# I put this together out of a 10 gallon fish tank



## Gekkonidae (Jan 24, 2016)

I put these 4 "Mantis apartments" together this morning. I wanted each one to have a little different feel to it I'm likely going to arrange more stuff for them to hang from. The top is actually same material as the dividers I made, so they should do okay with just that, but i'll add a little more later, just in case. I made this out of a 10 gallon fish tank. I want a different species in each one, whenever my little one are big enough.


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## Goodkoalie (Jan 24, 2016)

This is an amazing idea. I love these. I now want to build one or two for my own collection.


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## LAME (Jan 24, 2016)

Yeeeeaaaaaah bro... That's very nice!

What kind of material is that divider made of? And whered you acquire it?? O.O


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 24, 2016)

Thanks man! Dividers were all made from 2 things I bought at walmart on the cheap. I spent I think 6 bucks on 2 packs of the grids, and then another 3 bucks on project cover binders/bars. The grids are in the crafts section. Might have to hunt for them. The binder things are in the office supplies section. They come with the plastic covers for the projects, but i just threw those away lol. Here's the youtube I followed to get it done. The reason I went the DIY route is because dividers for tanks are a freakin rip off. I made 3 for less than the cost of paying for 1 pre-assembled divider you'd get from a fish care site/store, and I had enough left over to make a grid to cover the entire top of the tank also..

The other stuff is plain potting soil for substrate, a little sand I had from a vacation to Panama Beach. The rest of it: plants, moss and rocks I ended up getting at Hobby Lobby for 50% off (they have a deal running right now). I think i spent maybe 15-20 bucks on all the plants.

Oddly enough, I kind of picked up the idea from Minecraft. I like how you enter little biomes, so I thought I'd sort of apply that idea to individual enclosures for my Mantids. They will each have their own individual little world to live in, and it just looks damn cool.

I'm still not 100% done with it. I'm going to make a backdrop for each of the 4. I want 1 to be a rocky material, one to be a bark material and the other 2 I don't know. I'll try to stick with the theme/color schemes of each one though.


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## LAME (Jan 24, 2016)

Make one like a grassland. Kinda like a grassy field  

Man... I would've never thought about cross stitch mesh. That's perfect


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 24, 2016)

Good call man! I'll do that. I mean, it does have potting soil substrate, and I do have grass seed in the shed. I'll just throw some in there and let it go wild lol


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## LAME (Jan 24, 2016)

Gekkonidae said:


> ...I'll just throw some in there and let it go wild lol


Hahahaha!.. I like your think'n. XD


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## CutieCrawlersArt (Jan 25, 2016)

Oh my wow, that's a gorgeous tank. *___* So tempted to try this, seeing as I have a 10 gallon sitting around.


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## Chungy (Jan 25, 2016)

Amazing!

Question, how does one cleans the enclosures like these when they are full of poos? Dump everything out and recreate it?

I find that I have to clean all the deli containers at least once a week before it starts to smells really bad (poo and left over food). I use cotton pads so I just swaps new ones in.


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## Deacon (Jan 25, 2016)

This set-up is just gorgeous!

Do the binder edges go to the ridge that surrounds the top of the aquarium or all the way to the top?

Also, you know how the mantids like to hang on the lids? How will you open a one piece cover with four different mantids clinging to it? Do you have individual lids over each compartment first? (I realize you don't have mantids in your set-up yet, but how will you deal with this?)

Also, I'm with Chungy regarding the frass, etc. How do all you mantid keepers keep planted habitats clean?


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 25, 2016)

Regarding the question in relation to the imminent "fecal frenzy" that will inevitably inhabit the surface of the enclosure floors, I imagine that I'll just clean it out as I go. Probably once a week or so.I have enough potting soil to last quite a while. However, I know some of these surfaces may be fairly hard to clean. I'll think about a way to do this. I'm really interested to hear an opinion about how some of those who already do have live plants in their enclosures approach cleaning them also!

As for the top. I do have one grid laying squarely over all of the enclosures, underneath the tank lid, that I'm planning to cut up into individual "lids", that are somewhat tightly zip tied along one edge, acting as a door for each enclosure. The lid on top does a nice job of adding a little weight on the edges, so I highly doubt they could be opened by any mantids.

Edit: Thanks for the compliments all  I really tried to think about something a little different/artistic to make presentation a bit more attractive, but I also wanted it to be somewhat practical.


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## LAME (Jan 25, 2016)

You maybe able to find small hinges for like... Cabinet doors, at a hardware store?... I've seen smaller ones before but can't recall where I seen them.

Could hot glue those to the plastic "lip" of the tank and to the individual doors?

In regard to the poo.. I used to clean mine out, but pillbugs will do the job for you.


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 25, 2016)

Nice tip on the pill bugs. LAME, do you feed the pills anything in addition to Scyther ######? Since I have potting soil, would I need anything else to assist them in being more self sufficient?


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## LAME (Jan 25, 2016)

They eat about anything that hits the ground In my tanks lol... Old exoskeletons, dead/dying leafs, remaining bits of prey from the mantids... Sticks,twigs, and old wood.... I also use springtails. With the two combined I NEVER have to worrie about mold


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 26, 2016)

Awesome ideas!


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## Deacon (Jan 27, 2016)

Gekkonidae, thanks for showing your project. I was out gathering items today and can hardly wait to get started. I also understand about cutting the top grid into individual doors. Thanks for that. Mine will be much simpler and never as good looking as yours, but it is a great way to give each mantis more room---and I'm tired of looking through plastic!

Lame, I like the idea of tiny hinges. Maybe Hobby Lobby would have some (like for doll houses) if I can't find them at the hardware store. I have lots of isopods and springtails, too, and they do a good job. Right now all my tanks have a couple inches of coco fiber/sphagnum substrate full of cleaner bugs. My 108 oz containers just sit on top of it---the only way I can easily keep the humidity up. When I clean the containers, I just toss uneaten bugs, etc. into the substrate and stir it up occasionally to get it off the surface (never tried tossing the frass into it though. But Gekkonidae has his set up so beautifully that I can't see where anything could be stirred to hide the mess. I need to be less anal, I guess---gives me shivers.

Thanks, guys!


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 27, 2016)

Deacon, this is exactly the idea I had when I wanted to put something like this together. I don't mind my plastic containers, but it would be a lot cooler to see them being more active through something clear! Good luck with yours!!


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## Deacon (Jan 27, 2016)

Gekkonidae, Thanks! I hope you get some older mantids to put in your beautiful set-up, too!


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 28, 2016)

Just in case y'all wanted to see how I made hinges for the lids to each compartment, here they are using zip ties.


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## Deacon (Jan 30, 2016)

Gekkonidae, how did you attach the final lid?


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## Gekkonidae (Jan 30, 2016)

Just a standard fish tank lid lays on top of everything. It does a good job of pressing the edges down on the individual mesh lids for each individual enclosure, and hides the mesh lids to make everything more visually appealing.


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## Deacon (Feb 1, 2016)

Gekkonidae,

Thanks for the pictures but I gave up trying to make lids using zip ties. I found some tiny doll house hinges at Hobby Lobby, zip tied one side to each lid (back edge) and hot glued the other side of the hinge to the top of the rim and they work great (thanks for the idea, LAME).

Also, I had some trouble with my lids wanting to cave in because the top edge of the dividing wall was so narrow to balance on. So, I hot glued a strip of the mesh about 1 1/2 inch wide and centered on the top of each dividing wall to give my lids a platform to settle on.

I have seven adults and two subs that I will move into my three 10 gal aquariums so I only made three areas in each tank. Gekkonidae, I'm so glad you shared your idea! Your tank is so beautifully set up---not even going to attempt that! My mantids just use their sticks and lids and avoid any decorations in their present containers so they're getting substrate, appropriate sticks and maybe decoration on the back wall. Very boring compared to yours but for sure they will have more space and a clear view to their world!

Many thanks!


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## Gekkonidae (Feb 1, 2016)

Awwe, Deacon. You're very welcome  I really like your innovative approach to your tanks with each of the sections! Mine are a little warped if i hold them open too long, so i have to kind of bend them back. It's not a big deal though, as they're all secure. I'll admit that the zip ties were a bit of a sonofabitch to get working, but after all that effort, i'm not turning back on them now. The hinges idea is awesome!

You can always just work on the whole landscaping thing just a little at a time. I personally thought that making the little "worlds" for each one was the most fun part of the whole project! I've since mixed in sphagnum moss into the potting soil substrate and made each section go at alternating slightly "uphill" and "downhill", just for visual fun. I also added a heating pad I nabbed from a pet store.

I felt like my griffin was big enough, so i went ahead and moved him into one of the sections for now


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## Deacon (Feb 2, 2016)

OMG, I just spent an hour trying to upload a couple of photos of the hinges and I got logged off before I got it posted! (I had given up and got my son to do it and there's no way I'm gonna ask him to do it again). Maybe tomorrow I'll try if I can remember what he did.

Gekkonidae, I hope your little Griffin likes his pansies! The hinges were LAME's suggestion though. And no matter how hard I try, I just don't have your eye for decorating lol !

Thanks again!


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## Chungy (Feb 4, 2016)

Thanks for the inspiration, I made an enclosure couple of days ago after spending most of the day trying to find those sliding bars, couldn't find them in walmart, but finally found them in Office Depot.

Mine is not as pretty as yours though lol, I don't think I have the creative eye for that neither. Just coco fiber substrate and sticks/twigs from the yard for my adult/sub-adult mantids to have more room to move around and lay ooths on.

For the top, I got lazy and just cut out covers for each section from the same grids used for the dividers and put a zip-tie on top into a circle so I can lift it up, they are only resting on top of the inner rim, then I have the regular mesh tank cover over it when I'm done feeding. Only feeding flies for now since I'm afraid roaches can easily climb up the dividers and get out. :S


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## Gekkonidae (Feb 4, 2016)

Right on Chungy! Glad it inspired you! Yeah, until I make mine more secure there is no way im putting anything like roaches in there without supervising them haha.


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## LAME (Feb 10, 2016)

Gekkonidae said:


> Right on Chungy! Glad it inspired you! Yeah, until I make mine more secure there is no way im putting anything like roaches in there without supervising them haha.


There's many species of roaches that can't climb glass/smooth plastic nor fly. Not all are that bad. 

That's just the ugly picture we've been taught to believe.


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## Chungy (Feb 10, 2016)

LAME said:


> There's many species of roaches that can't climb glass/smooth plastic nor fly. Not all are that bad.
> 
> That's just the ugly picture we've been taught to believe.


I have rusty reds, not the glass but I'm pretty sure they will be able to climb the dividers all the way to the top. :/


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 10, 2016)

This looks really nice, thanks for sharing.


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## LAME (Feb 10, 2016)

Chungy said:


> I have rusty reds, not the glass but I'm pretty sure they will be able to climb the dividers all the way to the top. :/


Could hand feed  

That's what I do if need be


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## MantisGalore (Feb 11, 2016)

Thats a very amazing setup  !

Lucky little mantids lol


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## RocknessMonster (Feb 14, 2016)

This is such an awesome idea!! Great work! I might have to try this!


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## Deacon (Feb 15, 2016)

Gekkonidae, I finally got my photos uploaded of the finished product---nothing fancy like yours but they work  .  I am enjoying your aquarium idea sooo much!  Thank you!  

Lame, the hinges work, too.  Thanks!

Completed top with hinged lids.






Hinge close up. Hot glued to rim and zip-tied to mesh (one row of mesh had to be cut off under hinge so it would close properly.)






Open lids showing how I widened the divider top with mesh so the lids wouldn't cave---note mesh piece  goes under the aquarium rim for stability.  Also you can sort of see how the edge of the  lid was trimmed off under the hinge.




 

These are all my mantids now: Three tanks for my nine mantids and the end tank contains my four Popa spurca.




 

Popa spurca tank---grandkids make a game of trying to find them among the twigs each day (m &amp; f adults and m &amp; f sub adults---16 days and no fatalities!






f Ghost, f &amp; m Hierodula  all adults

 





m Sphodromantis (sub), f  &amp; m Dbl Shield adults






f  &amp;, m Budwing adults, f Sphodromantis (sub)






I have added a small sponge-filled opening near the lids' front edge for bottle-feeding BB flies (and the sponge works as a knob to open the lids.) Some uneaten BB flies do escape when I need to open the lids, but they all go into the skylight over the table where I collect them so no biggy. Crickets and dubia get their legs cut off and are handed to mantids  so I haven't had any bugs escape.  At night I do put hard mesh aquarium lids over the mesh lids as a safety precaution.

And...that's a wrap!


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## Gekkonidae (Feb 16, 2016)

Okay, first of all I want to say that despite you saying that I did better by the gun here, I think that you, yourself, outdid me. The size of your own inspired project has outdone me, and I'm completely humbled having known I have some impact on your own hard work. These enclosures are absolutely beautiful. The backdrops are gorgeous and will give your mantids a good life. The only differentiating thing between mine and yours are the bottom 3rd dimension. I gave depth on the bottom of the enclosure with rocks, moss and other sub-mats to give a realistic, individual environmental look. This gives an L shape of depth diversity, I studied the ground and what is realistic-ish to those habitats. I'm pretty brand new to this hobby, but i'll give you advice where I think I should. Give that terrain just a little diversity, and I think you've got this down perfectly, my friend. What you have is gorgeous, and a great story with it   

Edit: Good work with the underlays on the divider seams. Extra security


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## Gekkonidae (Feb 16, 2016)

and by a little, I mean just a little. don't overdo it. Your backdrops are revelled something awesome   You did really great work with them, and I'm happy your grandchildren love them. &lt;3


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## LAME (Feb 16, 2016)

Ha! Lookie at those beautiful lids. Dang.. seriously those ARE nice.


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## dmina (Feb 16, 2016)

Really great idea's guys.. beautiful tanks...and thanks for everyone else sharing their ideas... it is so nice to talk your problems out and have others to help you solve the issues you are having.. Great team work... Thanks for sharing!


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## Starving Always (Feb 19, 2016)

AMAZING


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## Gekkonidae (Feb 19, 2016)

Starving Always said:


> AMAZING


And you can do it, too! 

This isn't a big thread on this forum, but I like the responses, and the inspiration. Any one of you can take this creativity and make it all your own. Deacon blew me out of the water with her innovations on this. She ecologically has my idea by the balls, literally, and I consider it a mile beyond my own thoughts on enclosures. Think outside of the box on your design. After studying them, where is a place you want your mantids to live?


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## LAME (Feb 19, 2016)

Gekkonidae said:


> ....Deacon blew me out of the water with her innovations on this. She ecologically has my idea by the balls, literally, and I consider it a mile beyond my own thoughts on enclosures. Think outside of the box on your design..


Lol! Hilarious.. And great words of influence. However I believe they're both great setups


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## BigDazz (Sep 1, 2016)

Nice!


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## Maeraxya (Sep 4, 2016)

LOVE this idea! Both projects came out beautifully. Thanks for the inspiration.  

Definitely want to try it out when I get my mantids.


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## Precious (Sep 18, 2016)

So beautiful! You put so much thought and time/effort into this!  I use the same grid in my modifications, it's perfect!  I think it's made for embroidery sewing?  You did an amazing job, no hot glue in sight!  Your mantids are very lucky!


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## midnight001 (Sep 22, 2016)

This is amazing, and makes me feel inspired to try this!


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## ashleenicole (Sep 22, 2016)

These turned out great! I have an empty ten gallon tank that my snake outgrew, my husband may have a new project on his hands.


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## RedHead (Oct 5, 2016)

This is amazing.


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## Mystymantis (Oct 7, 2016)

Wow that is a great setup. The dividers look just like fish tank dividers, which are probably more expensive then what you used. I might try that too. Thank you for posting this!


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