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Hi Orin, I don't think they were damaged when I bought them - they survived a few moults and I got them from a good place. I expect it is my husbandry and I've been spraying less since posting here. My cages are critter keepers, plastic with lots of ventilation. Some are kept on spider soil and...

Hibiscusmile, The first 3 mantids I raised were all Creobroter gemmatus. One survived to adulthood with wings bent, 1 was given to a friend but died (I presume of cold, he was keeping it in a cold flat) and another died of the black abdominal fungus. At the time I was on holiday and keeping him...

Hi all, I don't seem to be having much success raising nymphs. Out of 8 mantids I've tried to raise from 2/3 instar, 2 have survived to adulthood and even then 1 mismoulted so his front leg was bent. Since my early days I have begun to mist them every day and provide much better ventilation in...

I don't know what it is about them but they are just so darn brilliant. They look good, they are very successful, there are so many different kinds and so many lifestyles and they are quite smart as well. I tried to find a British Wasp Society but there doesn't seem to be one so I will set one...

I didn't think you could tell the gender of nymphs at all. So longer antennae and more aggressive = probably female nymph? I'm guessing it's not 100% certainty?

People posting on fora often assume things about the people they are talking to that aren't true...I'm guilty too, I think everyone does it. I'll just say the relevant stuff: I'm not a complete wazzock who is going to put tape on a lid in such a way as to trap a mantid's legs, when I am going to...

lolz....well I'll post up a picture of my jar when I've finished. In theory nothing should be able to get caught in it the way I have in mind, but if it's still too dangerous I'll use super glue. I just don't trust it as much as duct tape, which always gives signs when it's about to give out...

no pictures? People just want to tell me not to use tape? Shame, I was hoping that some would have used candy jar houses before. I was not planning on having the tape anywhere near the inside of the jar. I will put pictures up when I have done it. The mantid will not get caught up even if it tries.

Hello all! I found a glass biscuit jar for £1.70 in Tesco and it looks very nice and inviting when one looks at it from a mantid's point of view. It could also be very attractive if I do it right. Soon (hopefully) it will have a young Alalomantis coxalis inside so I am starting to think of what...

Good point, best of luck with it! If I can help in your experiment PM me, I'm not a proffessional but I'm a student and I've had to do a lot of similar experiments. Who knows, you might discover something very strange. Even if you don't, you'll learn some really important skills. What your...

If you have to keep hitting the ignore button...that should be telling you something about yourself. Agent A, apologise for taking an interest in science this instant! Things do tend to grow quicker when they are younger. Think of the difference between a newborn and 1 year old human, then...

I'd like to buy one and I'm wondering how big they are. They seem to be a big species but how big are the nymphs? If they are very small then it may be worth getting 2 since they seem to die a lot easier if they are small, or perhaps I would get a Hierodula instead because they are even bigger.

Which tarantulas are deadly? I have never heard of any one of them being deadly, unless you are allergic to the venom, but it would be handy to know if some are... Absolutely stunning spider you got there, really interesting to see her grow. Fingers crossed she's a she! Lucky you got one that...

You would have thought on an invert forum that people didn't have the "gross" factors...after all neither of those things will kill you unless you're allergic to the stings. People love cute fuzzy little bumble bees and they are just as nasty as any spider or scorpion. Whenever anyone comes into...

But children must be educated correctly, as old habits die hard. Many people (even seasoned zoologists) get it wrong and it is terrible: Binomial names are only correct if the genus name is capitalised, the specific name is NOT capitalised, and both names are either underlined or italicised...

I would have thought my mam's fly trap would like to go into dormancy now, but instead it has a flower stalk. I know you shouldn't let them flower, but it's too late for that now and all I can try and do is pollinate the flowers, maybe get some babies, and try to keep the mother plant going as...

Hmmm. Glad I read this thread. Just rescued my mam's fly trap, some of the leaves are dying off and she thinks it's done for but maybe they've just closed their allotted number of times. It has 2 flower stalks (a mummy and a baby one :) ) and I left some Drosophila next to it, thinking it...

Yeah, my first male I kept on sand for 7 years. I switched to kitchen roll when he got impacted and nearly died. Sand really isn't worth the risk, even though it looks nice. Kitchen roll I always think looks quite nice, very clean. My last leo was kept on large river pebbles with kitchen roll in...

Birds get sick and die very quickly. If you have a sick bird, chances are it will die unless you take it to the vet immediately.

I had two lovely, lively, friendly little Creobroter gemmatus. Wee Thomas lived in the museum in a critter keeper type thing, eating Drosophila and the occasional tiny cricket I found. He is growing into a delightful little creature. Wangi? lived in my freezing flat until I noticed it was far...