# Cardboard



## Ricardo (Jun 11, 2011)

I've never seen people use pieces of cardboard to use as artificial twigs or surfaces for climbing in mantis enclosures.

Is cardboard harmful in any way? Because I was thinking of using some pieces in one of my enclosures temporarily, just to lay against the enclosure wall for better climbing surface.


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## patrickfraser (Jun 11, 2011)

It might get soggy with misting and pose a mold problem if ventilation isn't good. If just a temporary thing, I don't thing it could hurt.


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 11, 2011)

Like Patrick says. It will also look awful. Can you find no twigs in yr area? Since yr setup is temporary, you might want to try fresh twigs without all of the "sterilization" methods we mentioned. Anything that survives a little scalding water will probably not be interested in yr mantids anyway, and they will almost certainly come to no harm.


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## patrickfraser (Jun 11, 2011)

PhilinYuma said:


> Like Patrick says.* It will also look awful.* Can you find no twigs in yr area? Since yr setup is temporary, you might want to try fresh twigs without all of the "sterilization" methods we mentioned. Anything that survives a little scalding water will probably not be interested in yr mantids anyway, and they will almost certainly come to no harm.


LOL


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 11, 2011)

Cardboard is fine, I use the corrulate cardboard in lots of stuff, even make house from boxes!


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 11, 2011)

hibiscusmile said:


> Cardboard is fine, I use the corrulate cardboard in lots of stuff, even make house from boxes!


I remember seeing pix of your cardboard enclosures long ago, and they were great, but strips of the stuff propped up inside? Why would you use it instead of twigs, raffia, excelsior, etc? Even corrugated cardboard with get limp and soggy after a few good spritzes won't it?


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## massaman (Jun 11, 2011)

that is if you misted it as you dont have to mist the cardboard or anything and you can always over mist sticks and if ooths are glued to the sticks they could fall off too!


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 11, 2011)

I dont have the problem but some may, if overwatering, I like to water the mantis and right in front of them, no sense in haveing a downpour :lol: .

I do like sticks better, but some people live in a cement jungle and would probably get arrested if found cutting branches off of something in a park, most parks and public areas are noted with "do not add or remove anything from this area".

I can hear them now, "but officer, I just wanted a twig for my bugs! " Ok, Charlie, we got a live one here"


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## d17oug18 (Jun 11, 2011)

lol nice one lol


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 11, 2011)

hibiscusmile said:


> I dont have the problem but some may, if overwatering, I like to water the mantis and right in front of them, no sense in haveing a downpour :lol: .
> 
> I do like sticks better, but some people live in a cement jungle and would probably get arrested if found cutting branches off of something in a park, most parks and public areas are noted with "do not add or remove anything from this area".
> 
> *I can hear them now, "but officer, I just wanted a twig for my bugs! " Ok, Charlie, we got a live one here"*


The story of my life! But I long ago learned not to tell the truth:

"Oh, you like extra lettuce with that?" [No.I'm gonna soak it in water until it rots and feed the infusoria to my baby bettas]

"Sure, but I did't know that you had a cat" [i don't. I'm going to grind up the kitty litter and use it as ground cover for a scale diorama]

"That's the largest size of panty hose we sell." [Well as long as I can fit it over the 5 gal bucket that I'm raising houseflies in.]

"And these lights are brighter and less hot than the regular halogen ones." [ But I want the heat for my mantids]

"All our pastry brushes have short handles; do you want the longer handle for basting?" [No I want it for when I am trying to catch AWOL nymphs, but the pastry brush will do for ffs.]

Just a long life of deception, I'm afraid.


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## kitkat39 (Jun 12, 2011)

Looks bad, but works great. Just don't over spray it or else it'll get moldy and limp.


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## Ricardo (Jun 12, 2011)

Alright thanks guys! Im to lazy to find more twigs to sterilize right now so Im going to use carboard for the time being B)


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## sporeworld (Jun 12, 2011)

Do we KNOW that mold or mildew have ill effects on mantids?


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## Rick (Jun 12, 2011)

Ricardo said:


> Alright thanks guys! Im to lazy to find more twigs to sterilize right now so Im going to use carboard for the time being B)


You don't need to sterilize twigs for mantids.


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## dgerndt (Jun 12, 2011)

Rick said:


> You don't need to sterilize twigs for mantids.


That is very true. I didn't do anything to any of the stuff I put in my mantis cages until a few months ago. They all lived fine with uncleaned twigs and grass. It's just an extra precaution.


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## kitkat39 (Jun 12, 2011)

Sporeworld said:


> Do we KNOW that mold or mildew have ill effects on mantids?


I've only really seen Brunner's die from it. They kind of died all at once as the mold started to show in the container. They were L1 so pretty weak to begin with. I've seen other mantises survive in a container that had some mold in it, but I eventually cleaned it out or moved them somewhere else.. so i don't really know.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jun 12, 2011)

If your lucky you wont get mites or other pesties from it, so in the end I think a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so I bake'm first. And it's as easy for me to find a stick as it is a piece of cardboard ?

*I can hear them now, "but officer, I just wanted a twig for my bugs! " Ok, Charlie, we got a live one here" * :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## kmsgameboy (Jun 23, 2011)

The main reasons I havent ever used cardboard is A: It seems easier to just walk outside and grab a twig out of my yard. B: Since you have to mist the inside of your container the cardboard will most likely get wet and start to fall to pieces and C: I think twigs and leaves just LOOK better than cardboard would.


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## Termite48 (Jun 28, 2011)

I have read this thread from start to present, and I would add one more material that has been a benefit to me and I am going to be using it when my Idolos arrive. This material is known as bird netting. It can be purchased on a roll in the garden department of Home Depot, or any good gardening center. The mesh is made of some plastic like material and can easily be cut to the dimension you need. The openings are about 1/2". I placed it in one of my enclosures and had it so that when glued to the sides and downward from the top a good 6", it made a secondary place from which mantids would hang. The benefit is pretty obvious. If you use a heat lamp as I do on this enclosure, the mantids can pick a hotter or cooler place from which to hang out. the other benefit is that it prohibits falling in the case of a molting mantis. There is a better way to attach it to the side of the enclosure than to just glue it there. That is to glue or staple it to a small dimension of wood lath and then the lath can be glued to the enclosure and you end up with something very neat. Of course you make sure that the netting does not go all the way across the enclosure so you can still reach down and get to the bottom of things. When I get my netting reinstalled with the lath, I will post a photo.


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## kmsgameboy (Jun 28, 2011)

I use something that sounds a lot like that bird netting. Its a plastic mesh used for needle point. Its flexable but not flimsy and you can get a good sized pack with several sheets for about $5. I got mine from Walmart but you can probably get it anywhere craft suplies are sold.


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## Termite48 (Jun 28, 2011)

Yes, that is the idea. I have seen that when my mother (years ago) used to try various needle craft projects. It is a smaller mesh. That would work just as well.


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## kmsgameboy (Jun 28, 2011)

Rich S said:


> Yes, that is the idea. I have seen that when my mother (years ago) used to try various needle craft projects. It is a smaller mesh. That would work just as well.


 I use it in the lids of all my mantid housings but have played around with the thought of setting it inside for them to climb on.


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## Termite48 (Jun 28, 2011)

The reason I like the bird netting is that the mesh size is such as to allow free passage of flies of any size through it and allow smaller mantids to go through and restrict larger ones.

There are a few advantages.


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## sporeworld (Jun 28, 2011)

Rich S said:


> ...it made a secondary place from which mantids would hang. The benefit is pretty obvious. If you use a heat lamp as I do on this enclosure, the mantids can pick a hotter or cooler place from which to hang out. the other benefit is that it prohibits falling in the case of a molting mantis....


Yeah - if I'm reading this right, I'm working on a similar design now. A little hard to describe. Kinda like a heat sink (that probably didn't make any sense).

This was my starting point...







It's at a very different place now, but extra molting area/break-fall strategy is the motivation...


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## kmsgameboy (Jun 28, 2011)

Wow sporeworld, thats awesome!


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## Termite48 (Jun 29, 2011)

Mark: That is a nice conceptual drawing. I hope you can pull it off in reality. At least the major features of it.

Rich


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