xxdreamchas3r913
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- Sep 28, 2010
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I'm really really sorry about his novel of a post, I understand if you don't read this. I really do. And if this is in the wrong section, I'm so sorry, please delete or move this. If anyone is reading this, I know I haven't been on the forum in awhile, and I'm sorry that my coming back post is a such a huge rant, but I just wanted to share a huge lesson I learned today that should have been apparent to me much earlier than this...I know that most of this was my fault and that I could have easily prevented this had I done everything I could and should have done for my pets. Until today I had been keeping 12 Limbatas. I had been keeping most of them since they were about L3 or 4 since I caught them all in my grandparents' backyard. I kept each in a good size plastic tupperware...For the most part, they were fine and for most of the males, they were always a good size...Since I had never found so many mantids in the garden before, I was incredibly enthusiastic about mating as many as I could so that I could release the nymphs in the garden. It was a selfish and cruel goal considering that I had caught so many and could only keep them in tupperware... But miraculously, not one of them ever died...other than two mismolted males, I still had 10 healthy mantids. And although one of the males was worse off then the other, to the point where I had to handfeed him, the other could still hunt fine and would probably have corrected his bent hind leg in the next molt or two. In any case, I didn't think too much of their quality of life...It wasn't until the females started nearing adulthood that I even thought about the possibility that their homes probably weren't suitable at all for adult mantids, especially for the females. I noticed that although they were mostly healthy, other than the two mismolts, a couple of females that were one molt away from adults were beginning to run away from food that they could have easily tackled as young nymphs. Those same two females also began moving much slower and just seemed to be weakening. At that point, I was finally considering to let some or most of them go, but I was also worried that the less energetic females might not be able to survive if they were suddenly freed. To be honest, I really just feel like I wasn't thinking anything through enough. I was being selfish and unfair. I had claimed my entire life to love mantids, but I was treating them like they weren't living things, like they were items that I only pretended to care about so that I could have the pleasure of watching them for a bit a few times a day. I couldn't even care enough to think about their habitats!!! I'm so very sorry to anyone who has been reading this...I just have alot to say right now and I feel like not many people would listen to a rant about insect pets...
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But this is the worst part...Today, we had scheduled an exterminator to come and kill the cockroaches that recently started turning up in our kitchen. Our family was to leave the house for 4 or 5 hours while the exterminators the did their job. Obviously, I was wondering where I could leave my mantids until the job was done. Eventually me and my mom decided to leave our dog and mantids at a friend's house as we all had plans for the day. They agreed they would care for our pets until we picked them up later in the day. When we dropped them off, my mom told them to make sure the mantids were not exposed to the sun for too long since their containers would trap heat....That's when I should have realized how little responsibility I was taking for my insects. My MOM had to tell them that. And it only gets worse. They decide to put the mantids on top of a table they had in their patio, where it was shady. I didn't even take the time to ask them to check up on them periodically, to take them inside if it was getting too hot, I didn't even think anything could go wrong... I was so excited to be going with my friend to a freerunning gym that I hadn't been to in awhile and all I was thinking about was how I could finally try flips I hadn't done before, and improve everything I did know. It was all about me. We left and I went to the gym. I spent all day hanging out, doing what I wanted to do, and didn't think twice about the 12 lives I had left in the hands of someone who didn't have a clue what to do with a praying mantis. Of course, that night when I picked up my pets and brought them into the car, most of my mantids were dead. When I got home, I told my mom about the incident and she called my friend's mom. It turned out that they had left the mantids outside on the table all day, and had put some sort of cover or sheet over all of them so that they would be in shade. Of course, the tupperware had trapped all the heat the day could offer, and the sheet that covered them ensured that even more heat would be trapped.
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I spent the next half hour by myself, blaming my friend and his family for my loss. I think this was a much needed wake up call for me. After I had calmed down I finally realized everything that I had done wrong. That every single mantid could have been saved if I had just cared enough. My friend had done nothing wrong and could not be blamed. He did what he thought was best and putting a sheet over my insects (as bad an idea as it was) was probably much more than what anyone else would have done. I could not expect him to have cared for them better than he did because they were just insects. Instead, I should have been the one who made sure that they would be well cared for. After all, I was the person who supposedly cared for them. But I had thought of my mantids' wellbeing no more than he did. And they were supposed to be MY pets. Because of my lack of consideration, narrow mindedness, and selfishness, I have had more mantids die prematurely because of me today than I have my entire life. To further prove my lack of responsibility, I returned home to discover that I had forgotten one of my mantids at home. It didn't make me feel any better when I found that it was perfectly fine, that had I left them all home, none would have died. But that wasn't all I could have done either. I could have prevented this in so many ways. I know this is probably the longest post anyone has ever typed on this forum and that it would probably take an incredibly long time to read...I'm terribly sorry for taking up so much time for you guys if you're reading this. I just have not felt so bad about myself in a long time. But like I said, if this never happened, I would not have gotten the slap in the face that I definitely needed. It's about time I realized that if mantids really do mean as much to me as I claim, I should have acted on that. I could have done so much more for them if I had done what I was supposed to do...I'm sure none of you are as careless and selfish as I have been, but for anyone who has just started to or is considering raising an insect, please don't make the same mistake I did. Once you commit to keeping an animal, it's life is in your hands. Please do what you commit to, because your pet can have everything to gain, but everything to lose too.
<br>
But this is the worst part...Today, we had scheduled an exterminator to come and kill the cockroaches that recently started turning up in our kitchen. Our family was to leave the house for 4 or 5 hours while the exterminators the did their job. Obviously, I was wondering where I could leave my mantids until the job was done. Eventually me and my mom decided to leave our dog and mantids at a friend's house as we all had plans for the day. They agreed they would care for our pets until we picked them up later in the day. When we dropped them off, my mom told them to make sure the mantids were not exposed to the sun for too long since their containers would trap heat....That's when I should have realized how little responsibility I was taking for my insects. My MOM had to tell them that. And it only gets worse. They decide to put the mantids on top of a table they had in their patio, where it was shady. I didn't even take the time to ask them to check up on them periodically, to take them inside if it was getting too hot, I didn't even think anything could go wrong... I was so excited to be going with my friend to a freerunning gym that I hadn't been to in awhile and all I was thinking about was how I could finally try flips I hadn't done before, and improve everything I did know. It was all about me. We left and I went to the gym. I spent all day hanging out, doing what I wanted to do, and didn't think twice about the 12 lives I had left in the hands of someone who didn't have a clue what to do with a praying mantis. Of course, that night when I picked up my pets and brought them into the car, most of my mantids were dead. When I got home, I told my mom about the incident and she called my friend's mom. It turned out that they had left the mantids outside on the table all day, and had put some sort of cover or sheet over all of them so that they would be in shade. Of course, the tupperware had trapped all the heat the day could offer, and the sheet that covered them ensured that even more heat would be trapped.
<br>
I spent the next half hour by myself, blaming my friend and his family for my loss. I think this was a much needed wake up call for me. After I had calmed down I finally realized everything that I had done wrong. That every single mantid could have been saved if I had just cared enough. My friend had done nothing wrong and could not be blamed. He did what he thought was best and putting a sheet over my insects (as bad an idea as it was) was probably much more than what anyone else would have done. I could not expect him to have cared for them better than he did because they were just insects. Instead, I should have been the one who made sure that they would be well cared for. After all, I was the person who supposedly cared for them. But I had thought of my mantids' wellbeing no more than he did. And they were supposed to be MY pets. Because of my lack of consideration, narrow mindedness, and selfishness, I have had more mantids die prematurely because of me today than I have my entire life. To further prove my lack of responsibility, I returned home to discover that I had forgotten one of my mantids at home. It didn't make me feel any better when I found that it was perfectly fine, that had I left them all home, none would have died. But that wasn't all I could have done either. I could have prevented this in so many ways. I know this is probably the longest post anyone has ever typed on this forum and that it would probably take an incredibly long time to read...I'm terribly sorry for taking up so much time for you guys if you're reading this. I just have not felt so bad about myself in a long time. But like I said, if this never happened, I would not have gotten the slap in the face that I definitely needed. It's about time I realized that if mantids really do mean as much to me as I claim, I should have acted on that. I could have done so much more for them if I had done what I was supposed to do...I'm sure none of you are as careless and selfish as I have been, but for anyone who has just started to or is considering raising an insect, please don't make the same mistake I did. Once you commit to keeping an animal, it's life is in your hands. Please do what you commit to, because your pet can have everything to gain, but everything to lose too.
