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Anyone in the UK happen to have ooths of any species available? Looking mostly for basic beginner species but would happily think about other species as well.

Should I spray the cage of a desert species (thistle, violin, etc) when it is about to molt? The cage is always around 20% humidity on average, and I offer a little water to drink when I feed them. But should I mist if I think a molt is coming up soon? or is he ok molting at such a low humidity?

If anyone has any ooths available in Europe/UK please let me know.

Bit late to the party, maybe too late? When they are black so far as I know from all my research they do not need to be fed anymore, they are done eating at that point, empty their guts and get to becoming a fly. Bedding is likely only really needed to encourage the buggers to not try to crawl...

I am still in Iceland, but the first version was made in Canada when I had a lot more room to work with. I only have a tiny laundry room to keep all my feeders in now so my setup is bare bones. Just a mesh cage with a plastic bin in it.

Unfortunately I have moved countries since this and now have the most basic setup as I don't have room for anything bigger and more elaborate. Maybe in a few years when i get house with a garage! Both. 

I get my well trained friends to drop in every 3 days or so to take care of my vast zoo of creatures which includes mantises. I write up detailed directions in the form of a check list so they can just go down it and check each item off as they do it. That way its a no brainer. I also make sure...

Such tiny jewels :)  I am happy you were able to fatten up at least one of the two you got from your cousin.   I have a single brown anole named Clover and she is the cutest little thing. I am so jealous that you can hand feed yours as Clover was a misplaced wild anole (found in a suitcase)...

With some patience you could always try meal worms. Surely they should be easy enough to come by? You may have to cut the worm and patiently work to stick the gooey end up to the ghosts mouth to get them to realize its food.  I do this with my violins and its a pain in the butt but will work if...

The Carrot topic is a very debated one for sure. My personal opinion is that it is more an Urban Mantis Myth then truth. Crickets are well known for causing disease and death in mantises if their husbandry is incorrect or if they are already infected with viruses they can pass on (some species...

That is a puzzle for sure. My two cents is that I am rather convinced that I have had mantises die from eating BSF that have been fed apples as maggots. I have not had enough mantises to do a proper experiment to confirm this but its happened at least twice and I could not find any other issues...

Just a quick update about the light. I had a bit of a time getting the thing to me (not the company's fault, that was all me) but finally managed to get it set up.  Winter has arrived and with it the sun has left me high and dry so my flies were not mating or laying eggs at all up until I got...

I can confirm this. I had a heck of a time getting my flies to breed here in Iceland as the sunlight is somehow "different". I purchased an LED grow light from IKEA and instantly my flies started breeding. However normal high lumen LEDs bulbs for household use did nothing. There is also a...

I tend to keep the net cages in another larger "container" so I can control the heat and humidity. Right now that is a wardrobe from IKEA. I have a humidifier set up in the wardrobe when needed (ie: in the winter). That or I just have a bug and reptile room that is always set at 25 degrees C...

I almost never use anything but net cages now. Way less worry about mis-molts and the mantises just seem happier when they can run around with good grip instead of flailing on plastic or glass when you startle them.

I should add that I would love to see what others come up with! There is a 3D printer at the FabLab here that I can get access to if someone comes up with a fantastic idea :)

Sorry for the delay, I completely forgot to upload these. The two bigger models are made with a slot in the front designed to fit a pane of glass from a frameless picture frame from the dollar store.roughly 7x5 inches.  Its also easy enough to cut a piece of Plexiglas or plastic to size...

I do somewhere! I will find it tonight and put a link here. Its built so it prints as flat as possible and with as little plastic as I could manage and still get a sturdy result. We had a 3D printer at work which was only allowed to go during work hours due to fire hazard so I had to try to make...

Just going to throw in my two sense as someone that raised violins under stressful conditions. BSFs are very easy to culture and if you do it right they will not smell and you can keep them anywhere in your house. There is a sticky from me on how to do that. I currently have my colony in the...

When I lived in the great North I bought my deli cups at the local cash and carry type store. You should check out the few in Ont to see if they happen to carry what you are looking for. As for lids, I would go to the dollar store, buy some kind of fine mesh ribbon and then modify the cup lids...