Glad to be here!

Hi, my name's Brandy I have loved all insects for as long as I can remember, but mantids have always had a special place in my heart. I've only had a few mantid species over the past 4 years but I'm hoping to continue having them around for the foreseeable future. I had a lot of problems with my mantises rubbing their eyes on cages causing black spots and I'm assuming vision loss, so now I let them free roam around my home, although they rarely move if they're well fed and watered. I wasn't able to time it right with my mantises so I wasn't able to breed them. So I'm hoping to get a few more here. In the meantime I have a few Chinese mantises hanging out around the house keeping me company now that it's getting colder in Utah, they all have such fun and unique personalities and mannerisms . I've been out of school for a decade, but I'm considering going back for entomology in the next few years. I have a few pictures of the guys throughout the years attached, but I recently got a better camera setup so hopefully I'll be able to have better pictures in the future!

Hi Brandy - I am new to mantids - never had one as of yet. My desire is for them to roam free. However, I am curious as to how and what to feed them when they do roam. My initial thought was to set them in my houseplants, which is one window full of a variety of plants. As I am researching what to feed them, I am concerned flightless fruit flies and/or silkworms would indeed harm the houseplants. Would you be opposed to sharing your process/routine/setup with me? I want to be fully prepared before ordering some juveniles.

Welcome to you both!

Welcome to the Mantid Forum.

Welcome. I like putting them on a hanging plant or one that is not near a cabinet because they will desire to climb up. As long as it can catch some flies or spiders in the house they should be fine, just have to watch for frass as it can get messy. Mist the plant and keep it fed and it will probably stay in one place.

LavrisChica said:

Hi Brandy - I am new to mantids - never had one as of yet. My desire is for them to roam free. However, I am curious as to how and what to feed them when they do roam. My initial thought was to set them in my houseplants, which is one window full of a variety of plants. As I am researching what to feed them, I am concerned flightless fruit flies and/or silkworms would indeed harm the houseplants. Would you be opposed to sharing your process/routine/setup with me? I want to be fully prepared before ordering some juveniles.

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Hey! I usually keep them in containers till they can eat small crickets, just because they can be a bit hard to keep track of. I usually hand feed them flies and grasshoppers during the summer months. I wanted to reply back to you since it's been. A few days, but I can give you more details if you need.