# Hello.



## Jayson16 (Sep 23, 2007)

Hey, My name is Jayson. I just thought I would introduce myself. I love sports, Im currently playing Football and also play lacrosse and ski team. Some things I like to do is grow and collect Carnivorous plants, I guess thats why Mantids intrest me alot, I also love to hunt, fish, and anything outdoors related. Wile I was outside to day I found a green mantid sitting on a branch and it really suprised me that they could live around here knowing how cold it gets during the winter. I thought I would take it home and see if I could keep it and raise it. Looking how to take care of it I found this great forum.

So...here are some pics of the mantid, could anyone tell me what kind it is?







Also from growing Carnivorous plants I have a couple aquarims that needed to be filled, so today I built this vivarium out of my soil and plant supplies. Heres a pic of it, 30 gal with some house plants and live sphagnum moss.











Well there ya have it, comments are very welcome. Anything I can change or do differently please share. Thank

Jay.


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## Rick (Sep 23, 2007)

If you plan on putting mantids in there be aware they tend to stay at the very top. That means you would need many more plants or a top they can hang from.


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## Andrew (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome! I've got a few CP's myself.

If you plan on keeping mantids in the cages pictured, I would put a little bit more in there for them to climb on. Otherwise, looks great. Could be difficult feeding ground-prey though.

And the mantis looks like _M. religiosa_.


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## Jayson16 (Sep 23, 2007)

Thanks for the help, I plan on getting the fiber glass mesh for the top screen. Yeah I thought it might be difficult for it to eat the crickets I have in there now, What would you recomend I should do? I was also wondering how do they survive up here in NY with the winters? and during the winter should I just keep them at room temp. Thanks.


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## Andrew (Sep 23, 2007)

As many others do, I would reccommend purchasing some housefly/bluebottle fly pupae or using some other flying prey. Grubco and Spiderpharm seem to be the favorites around here. Of course, you could always just handfeed the mantis crickets using tweasers. Since you only have one mantis that may be the best way to go.

In the wild they die off once winter rolls around.


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## Jayson16 (Sep 23, 2007)

Ah sounds great Andrew, thanks alot for you help. Sense I only have one ATM I do belive I will hand feed it. Any suggestions what mantids would be good for a noob?


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## Andrew (Sep 23, 2007)

There are tons of species good for noobs. If people don't call it difficult, then its probably easy enough as long as you've done your research and use some common sense.

My personal suggestions:

If you like small exotic mantids, go with _Creobroter_ or _Pseudocreobotra_. Giant beasts, go with _Sphodromantis_ or _Parasphendale_.


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## Jayson16 (Sep 23, 2007)

ok, I guess I should concentrate on getting a heating mat for the winter, then ordering some mantids, thanks again.


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## hibiscusmile (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome Jason, if you have a nice warm room and some lamps for warmth near the mantis, most will be fine with that, most like between 72 and 95 degrees more or less. :lol: Since it is still nice outside, you can catch some grasshoppers, moths, and other flying creatures for him to eat. If you have crickets in with him, as they said, take tweezers and catch it then hand it up to the mantis, once it see it, it should grab it from you. There are many species that would be fine for you. You just have to look around and see what strikes your fancy. Good luck and feel free to ask questions and don't forget to use the search features. :wink:


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## Jayson16 (Sep 24, 2007)

Thanks for the welcome and the help Hibiscusmile. When I tried to feed the mantid a cricket it wouls swipe at it but not eat it, from what I have read on the forums it might start molting? Another thing is were im keeping my one mantid now, gets pretty cold during the winter and im trying to think of what I should use to heat it. The heat lamp seems like the best idea so far, any other ideas? Thanks for any info and help.


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## OGIGA (Sep 26, 2007)

Welcome!


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## robo mantis (Sep 26, 2007)

Welcome


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