# A houseful of adoptees



## meanandpinchy (Apr 21, 2008)

Hi to all! My name is Lisa, and I have a houseful of oddball adoptees; mostly aquatic, rescues and critters that other people didn't want anymore. My whole house is practically one big fishroom (bettas, African and CA cichlids, a misanthropic old raphael catfish, some community guys), and I also have African dwarf frogs, a dozen land hermit crabs (PPs and Es), red claw crabs, a native crayfish and one cat that was born feral in a railyard, but has tamed nicely. After I found a Chinese mantis ootheca attached to a branch (broken in an ice storm) that was due to be put through a chipper, I decided to bring it home in case the thick ice hadn't damaged the eggs. My poor, put-upon husband is used to my bringing home odd creatures, and I wanted the potential little dudes to at least have a chance. I'd never raised pet insects before except for some baby milkweed bugs that lost their home last year, but knew that the species was sturdy and easy to keep, and after some research that found this forum, I discovered I already had pretty much everything they'd need because I already use it for the fish or the crabs, or the live food cultures (for the fish). The world's cutest little manti-dudes hatched on the 28th of March, are currently living in a 40L screen-topped aquarium, and seem to be doing quite well so far. Well, of _course_ I think they're the world's cutest--they're mine!

My job description is "general purpose computer geek", and you can probably guess by the critter list that I don't have a lot of time for other hobbies, but I've always been fascinated by insects and spiders, so I'm an enthusiastic bughunter and get out as often as I can to photograph them, and whatever else I find that looks interesting. I might be crawling on the ground in a field, or getting my hair full of spider webs in the woods, or ankle-deep in pond muck, stalking dragonflies, but it'll be fun! The decent shots go up on Flickr, released under a CC licence that allows anyone to use them for non-commercial purposes, and I'm overjoyed when I can help win someone over to the side that _doesn't_ immediate reach for the Raid or a rolled-up newspaper when they see something with an exoskeleton and more legs than they've got. Oh, and you may also have noticed that I was born entirely absent a shut-up gene.


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## bugzilla (Apr 21, 2008)

Hello and welcome  .

Your house sounds even more insane than mine, and that takes some doing


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## OGIGA (Apr 21, 2008)

Welcome!


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## Malnra (Apr 21, 2008)

Hello .. welcome and yes you can ramble on :- )

Glad you topped in and hope you stay with us.


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## hibiscusmile (Apr 21, 2008)

Welcome ole meany! ha ha, You talk about as much as my hubby! Is that the gene he is missing? from OHIO! :lol:


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## Rick (Apr 24, 2008)

Welcome


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## asdsdf (Apr 26, 2008)

Hi! Welcome to the forum.


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