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Welcome fellow Canadian!

Did a bit of searching but could not find the answer. I was under the assumption that most mantises lay 2 to 4 or more ooths in their life? Is this true for Chinese Mantises? My 3 bred females and one unbred all died on me weeks after laying their first and only ooths. Is my luck just abysmal or...

Someone with a bit more experience might want to chime in but I raised a whole brood of Tenodora Sinensis nymphs from an egg and from that as well as reading many forum posts it seems to be that the Chinese mantis plays the numbers game. That is they have a high hatch and mortality rate. You...

Terminology/Slang Names Adult Flies: “Black Soldier Fly”, “BSF” Larva (Maggots): “Phoenix Worms”, “BSFL” As Feeders For Mantises Both adult flies and the larva can be used as feeders. The flies are readily taken by mantises of the appropriate size. They can be a bit of a messy feeder however...

I've never experienced this myself but everything seems to point to the crickets. The fact 40 out of 50 died is a huge red flag. If the unidentifiable substance staining the display cage is black that is likely another good sign that the cricket virus was the culprit as mantises are known to...

I caught a teeny tiny american toad last fall. She was smaller then my thumbnail and the cutest little mouth cannon. She is now a fairly large little fatty and it was time for her cage to get an overhaul. I found this amazing stump while out looking for isopods one day and instantly knew what I...

Welcome! I find it strange mantises are not more popular. They are such wonderful amusing little friends. They need better PR in my opinion. 

So nice. I murdered the only orchid (plant not mantis) I tried to keep in short order. I plan to try again but with my black thumb I think a bit of research might be needed first hehe.

What a gorgeous girl and a lovely terrarium!

@Ocelotbren Honestly I have no idea but I've had a number of mantises start acting like this and its always a sign they are dying. I had about 4 freshly molted adults pass away after acting like this as well so it wasn't a molting issue there. I also had two nymphs pass away due to what I...

I've personally never had a mantis come back after they started acting like this. I've tried honey/bananas to try to help get them past whatever issue they had with no luck. Few more days and all of them always ended up dead.

The best part of fruit flies as feeders is that you pretty much just have to buy one culture and you are set for as long as you need them. They are ridiculously easy to culture yourself (see the sticky about fruit fly recipes) and very inexpensive.  I bought one culture of Hydei FFs over a year...

I've used live moss from outside quite a bit and I think it has contributed to a few deaths due to my inexperience. If you are using live moss from outside you need to make sure there is enough airflow that it won't get stagnant and produce mold that might harm your mantis. Also any live moss...

Same with me, I keep mine around each other. Besides the uncommon particular individual who obviously need their own space and is happy to sit in a thread pose for hours I haven't have any issues.

I'm so glad she made it. Was a fun trial run to see how mailing would go. Its a bit harrowing packing adults. Nymphs would be so much easier :D At least its spring and you should be able to catch feeders outside if she cleans you out hehe.

I'd keep any culture medium that's still in there as the flies may have laid eggs. Give it a week and see if any maggots show up before giving up on it.

Its a trial for sure! I was nearly overwhelmed a couple times with my first hatch as I kept way too many of them. Nymphs are not even that bad as you can keep them in cheap little deli cups its just a lot of work to keep them fed and clean. It wasn't a crisis for me til I suddenly had 40+ adults...

I use photobucket, its free and it gets the images up here. 

@KevinsWither The problem is the links to the pictures are only available to people who have an account on Arachnoboards and are signed in. If you right click on any of the images and select "open image in new tab" while not logged into your Archanobards account you'll see what I mean.

Unless there is some stream of forum PMs I don't know about I assume most of your issues are arising from the facebook groups? Perhaps a middle ground would be to stay on the forum but leave the facebook group(s).