Recent content by Ckowsky

It always starts with one mantis, then another, then another, welcome to the addicting hobby! 🙂 I can personally attest to Peter @ Bugs In Cyberspace - mantids Rebecca @ Mantis Place - mantids, supplies, and feeders There's always the classifieds on here with old members with many reviews as well

2nd on that being a nice female! If you're unsure about IDing, I think you're more than free to post pics of the rest and have some assistance. p.s. ghosts are one of the top tier mantids imo; congrats on the group!

Don't think we've personally interacted too much, but I've always appreciated reading your guides and posts over the years. Best of luck on your endeavors!

Also, super happy to see that you're pursuing live feeders; they truly are the best for our little guys😁

I'll go ahead and plug Rebecca/TheMantisPlace as excellent for feeders, been using her when I needed fly pupae several times over the last few months. In the future, and if you feel comfortable, another option is to culture your own dubia. I breed crested geckos so I always have a surplus...

Any access to roaches or flies? They'd likely be more readily accepted/viewed as prey items. Side note, I personally tong feed most of my mantids (just for ease of not losing feeders) but I use my long/thin reptile tongs. I agree with @Mantis Lady , maybe the mantis is fearful of the larger...

Hello! Lovely budwing!

I may be overthinking this a bit; but another issue with freeze-dried is that the crickets are often gut-loaded for a reptiles nutritional needs. Also, they're lacking moisture; many predatory insects get their water (other than from drinking) from freshly-killed prey. Respectfully, I'm not sure...

Dubias won't bite; I'd personally be more concerned with the mantis being picky about food preferences. I've tong fed dozens of times; sometimes its immediately successful, other times I'm twirling the bug around for ages, other times it won't work unless the bug is actively moving around and...

Would say male based on crown shape as well as antennae length. Female crowns are typically shorter and wider; females are also bulkier overall. I previously made a mini guide to show the differences described:

Hey hey, welcome to the forum! Congrats on that newly matured orchid girl!

Welcome! Have you decided which species to start off on?

Welcome! I'm originally from GA so it's always nice to find another Georgian on here!

Using cork as a substrate/hide/surface for roaches should be totally fine. I'd just suggest to keep species-specific considerations in mind though. For instance, I've read about someone using using PVC pipes as hides for red runners, which worked amazing but their egg cases ended up blocking...

Took some photos for Instagram and thought I'd share them here too. Still working on macro/stacking but we're getting there!