Tifferm
New member
I tried searching the forums because I'm sure my questions have been answered before, but I got super overwhelmed. Feel free to point me to the correct thread! Ok, so a couple of days ago we hatched our Carolina mantis nymphs. I have them in a 3-gallon enclosure, with the soil, plastic plant, and wood cave that came with it. The habitat said it was good for praying mantis. I added a square of tulle to the lid to help keep the nymphs and flightless fruit flies better contained after reading that advice online. I have been misting once a day. I added a small bowl with Flukers cricket quencher in it for their water source since it was the only bug gel I could find near me. I waited a day after they hatched and then fed them some flightless fruit flies. I read online some mixed stuff about how often to feed at this age, but I was going to just add a few more anytime I stopped noticing any still in there. I don't have their enclosure near any windows lights or vents. My house is usually between 72-74F. They seem to be doing well so far but this is only day 3. Is there anything I'm missing or doing wrong? I plan to release a bunch of them in the garden in 3-5 weeks which is when I read they need to be separated. I would like to end up keeping one as a pet. Any recommendations on this? I know I wont know the gender until full grown but we are ok with either gender I think. Any advice is appreciated. Our only previous experience with mantids is a previous hatch and release learning experience with Carolina mantis (indigenous to our area so they are safe to release). I've never kept any beyond a month.