# My new mantid room!



## Katnapper (Nov 23, 2008)

I finally got my new mantid room set up last night! Yaaaaa!!  I'm exited... can you tell?  I'd been keeping them in the bathroom for several months, and the situation was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with my family. But now we have our bathroom back. And me and the mantids have our own nice big space, humidity and climate controlled, especially set up for them.   

Here's the before... in the bathroom:






















And here's after... in the spare bedroom - aka now as "The Mantid Room"


----------



## idolomantis (Nov 23, 2008)

AHAHA if would do that my sis would [email protected] before she even reached the toilet XD


----------



## Katnapper (Nov 23, 2008)

idolomantis said:


> AHAHA if would do that my sis would [email protected] before she even reached the toilet XD


LOL, idolomantis!! :lol:


----------



## Frack (Nov 23, 2008)

NIce new set up, the pic of the cages on the toilet is to funny.


----------



## Rick (Nov 23, 2008)

I hope that was not your only bathroom lol. Question for ya, why so much excelsior in the FF cultures?


----------



## Katnapper (Nov 23, 2008)

Rick said:


> I hope that was not your only bathroom lol. Question for ya, why so much excelsior in the FF cultures?


No, Rick... we have 3 other bathrooms in the house.  But this one is the only one on the main floor and is used more than any of the others. I did notice my husband and son resorting to the upstairs and finished basement floor bathrooms more when I had all the mantids and feeders in there though (that's a tub of crickets in front of the sink, lol). I'm sure I would never have gotten away with that set up if it was the only one!

Why so much excelsior in the FF cultures? Well.........  because I'm a newbie at making cultures and those 3 on the right, on top of the sink, were my first attempt at making my own? They started off good, but then all died before long. I just kept them in there hoping maybe there was some larva in there that would hatch yet. But I'm pretty sure they're done. I was thinking I had the mixture too dry, and also decided not to add oatmeal the next time. I gather I put too much excelsior in them too....  What can I say other than "newbie!"  

I want to thank you... I'm glad you mentioned it, or I might have never known. I've done a lot of intensive research on the net about mantids since last year. But obviously it doesn't teach you everything! I'm doing my homework, but I'll be glad when I get some experience under my belt. And I heavily rely on this forum to help me out along the way!


----------



## Rick (Nov 23, 2008)

Oatmeal? You put oatmeal in FF cultures? :mellow:


----------



## Katnapper (Nov 23, 2008)

Rick said:


> Oatmeal? You put oatmeal in FF cultures? :mellow:


At least I admit it!  Yes, I scoured the internet looking for homemade recipes and saw one that included oatmeal. I should have realized it was not a good thing to include when not mentioned by the all of the others I saw. But in my zeal for wanting to include every possible beneficial thing, I added it. Lets just say I've learned from that mistake... now I'm waiting on my order of commercial ff media mix to get here.


----------



## Rick (Nov 24, 2008)

Katnapper said:


> At least I admit it!  Yes, I scoured the internet looking for homemade recipes and saw one that included oatmeal. I should have realized it was not a good thing to include when not mentioned by the all of the others I saw. But in my zeal for wanting to include every possible beneficial thing, I added it. Lets just say I've learned from that mistake... now I'm waiting on my order of commercial ff media mix to get here.


You made the right choice in ordering that. New room is much better.


----------



## The_Asa (Nov 24, 2008)

Dang :blink: Can't believe nothing fell into the toilet...


----------



## d0rk2dafullest (Nov 24, 2008)

Nice new room!

hehe everything started in the bathroom? =)

keep it up!


----------



## yen_saw (Nov 24, 2008)

I started my collection in a closet below the stair and move it up to the a room eventually when the collection exploded. It is great to have all the space now yeah Katnapper  Much better than finding room in the bathroom feeding all those hungry mouth, and yes i have experienced the closet i kept my mantis was smaller than your bathroom


----------



## ABbuggin (Nov 24, 2008)

hahahahahah!!!! The bathroom pics are too funny!! :lol: :lol: You should see my "bug room" where my brother and I sleep. It looks like a plane wreck. h34r: 

(partly due to being a bit untidy and have hardly any room at all) That will be fixed when its time to move out of the house.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Nov 25, 2008)

:lol: it's a disease I tell you, one little mantis, one hope of saving mankind, they are all related, before you know it, mankind can fend for theirselves and the ones left in the house better stay out of the way of the process or find them selves on a plate for mantis dinner


----------



## Katnapper (Nov 25, 2008)

hibiscusmile said:


> :lol: it's a disease I tell you, one little mantis, one hope of saving mankind, they are all related, before you know it, mankind can fend for theirselves and the ones left in the house better stay out of the way of the process or find them selves on a plate for mantis dinner


  Omg, Rebecca, you described it perfectly....  too funny!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: It is rather like a disease, once you catch it.


----------



## kmsgameboy (Nov 25, 2008)

idolomantis said:


> AHAHA if would do that my sis would [email protected] before she even reached the toilet XD


LOL I would love to have mine in the bathroom JUST for that reason! (but with my wife) Too bad my bathroom is just too cold. I believe I will be keeping mine in my living room.


----------



## sk8erkho (Dec 19, 2008)

Wow!! I'd been too afraid of my nephew taking one of his toxic crapolas in the john and murdering all the babies at once!!! that kid...anyway, all of mine are currently in the living room not too many choices until we get the house squared away!! But, for now it's the living room with all the little cups and odd tanks I found online and such!!!


----------



## harryallard (Dec 20, 2008)

ahahhaa the bathroom!

i would get killed by my mum if i did that :lol:


----------



## Orin (Dec 20, 2008)

Now they're not going to get as much care since you don't have to sit and stare at them as much.


----------



## Katnapper (Dec 20, 2008)

Orin said:


> Now they're not going to get as much care since you don't have to sit and stare at them as much.


 :lol: Lol, Orin... You know I do kind of miss the in the bathroom nowdays.


----------



## shorty (Dec 20, 2008)

Where did you get the jars with the different colored lids as seen in the photo of your bathroom sink? They're like exactly the size container I need right now.


----------



## Katnapper (Dec 21, 2008)

shorty said:


> Where did you get the jars with the different colored lids as seen in the photo of your bathroom sink? They're like exactly the size container I need right now.


Hey, Shorty.... I got them at the Dollar Tree store. They came 3 to a pack, small, medium, and large, all nested together for a buck. I bought all they had at both our Dollar stores in town... and all they had left at the Dollar Tree where my brother lives when I went to visit him!  You ought to check yours out if you have one... not Dollar General but the Dollar Tree... in the housewares dept. Oh, and they had 2 different styles, one is a little taller and thinner than the other style. Here's a pic of how they came (below). Thank goodness my husband wasn't with me any of the times. And I kind of stashed them in bags in a few different places... so he doesn't realize just how many I really do have, lol! I don't hide anything important from him. But I thought it was better just to keep this to myself.   Can husbands have wives committed? :huh:


----------



## shorty (Dec 21, 2008)

Thanks! I believe we have a dollar tree but I'm not entirely sure. I know we have a dollar general. I'll check it out tomorrow.


----------



## nasty bugger (Dec 21, 2008)

It should be a relief not having to move out of the bathroom for someone when you're in the middle of working on something like feeding.

I live alone in my 2 bedroom apartment but keep the mantis' and fruit flies in the living room and dining room, where it's heated.

I heat my apt soley by grow lights that I grow a vegitable and herb garden to, so that's the heated area of the house.

I just hatched an ootheca about a week and a half ago, and they've already molted. This is my second one hatched, but the first one that the mantis' lived.

I bought oothecas at a whole foods store and didn't know they needed any help to survive and just lodged a ootheca in the crotch of a tomato plant, and the babies just hung under the ootheca and dried up, so I got online and now I've misted them and keep them in jars, a gallon sun tea jar, and half gallon pickle jar, and several quart mason jars.

I have most in the large jars, and another otheca just hatched a couple days ago, so I have some little ones.

I just noticed yesterday that the first batch molted and today I noticed them attacking the just hatched batch. I'd never seen that before, so I gotta move those guys out to save them, or let natural selection take place...

I bought a couple aquariums, a 5gal and 10 gal, at a yard sale the other day, and was going to set them up for mantis' and would like to make it a poly culture, but not sure how that'll work out.


----------



## MingMing (May 24, 2009)

LOL I bet noone can find the ashtray except fot the obvious owner... BTW the room is great!


----------



## Katnapper (May 24, 2009)

ming ming said:


> LOL I bet noone can find the ashtray except fot the obvious owner... BTW the room is great!


Thanks, ming ming.  That's about how it is right now, lol!

Wow... looking back at these pics now is kind of funny. I had so much room at first!!! Now I've got almost every available space full, without making it too crowded to work in.  :lol:


----------



## d17oug18 (May 24, 2009)

lol i cant believe what you have, i can only wish for something of that magnitude, so lil room right now and i want to sell these things, you all have probably seen what i got on that thread a few days ago =) 6 mantises and a very small room lol

No ones asked so i want to lol how the !frick on a stick! do you feed hundreds of mantises?


----------



## Katnapper (May 24, 2009)

I'm in the bug room a lot, obviously, Doug!


----------



## d17oug18 (May 24, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> I'm in the bug room a lot, obviously, Doug!


i know lol but whats the process, open the zipper a lil bit and funnel them in one by one lol man i dred the day when i have to do that lol, id rather invent a machine to auto feed lol


----------



## Katnapper (May 24, 2009)

d17oug18 said:


> i know lol but whats the process, open the zipper a lil bit and funnel them in one by one lol man i dred the day when i have to do that lol, id rather invent a machine to auto feed lol


All by hand, Doug, lol! Open containers, pour in ff's. Unzip cubes, pour in ff's or crickets, or release house flies in there. It's a lot of work.


----------



## Eldur (May 25, 2009)

Haha it is so funny that you had your mantises in your bathroom on top of the toilet :lol: 

Great that you have your own Mantis room now, congratulations


----------

