A hobby I'd never thought of before

[Ocelotbren]

Hi, I'm brand new to the forum and new to mantises as well.  I live in Michigan but I grew up in Alberta, Canada.  I had never even thought of a mantis as a pet before, and never seen one in the wild, so I didn't know much about them.  But this past fall, a friend mentioned that he had once had a pet mantis and that piqued my interest so I started doing some research and decided I really wanted to try it myself.

I bought all the supplies and ordered an L3 Chinese mantis and it arrived last week.  Well, it's actually two in case one had died in transit, but they both made it.  At this point I am just waiting for one to eat the other I guess.  I have them in an 8x8x12" enclosure and they had one 18 hour showdown where they stared at each other without moving, but nothing came of that.  One of them has molted to L4 now too.

Anyway, I've been doing lots of reading on this forum and I may be posting some questions if I can't find the answers easily.  Glad to have found this forum!

 

[Sarah K]

Welcome to the forum, there is a really great group of people here on the forum, very active and helpful, even about non-mantis related things.

 

[Zeppy44]

Heyas  and welcome. Lot's of us are new here and also learning as we go. Internet makes it so much easier.

 

[Serle]

Greetings , seems plenty of new hobbyests  here . 

 

[izbiggs]

Welcome to the forum!  I'm pretty new myself. 

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello and  welcome to the forum

I would recommend keeping them housed separate, what's wrong with two pets? Or selling one in a classified ad. Seems like a waste to me to let them cannibalize one another with only two nymphs.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Thanks everyone!

@CosbyArt Okay you convinced me.  I've been thinking of separating them all week but haven't yet because I only got one enclosure and really wanted to start with just one mantis since I'm new to this.  But then two arrived alive.

I found a plastic container that's about 5x5x6" that I will make into an enclosure today and keep one mantis in for now.  I was thinking it'd be a good idea to keep both anyway in case one has molting issues or something.  In the future I could still sell the second one or release it outside if I choose to, right?  Since it is native.

By the way, and this is completely unrelated, I saw you post a diagram of mantis abdomen fullness (with drawings and photos side by side) that I can't for the life of me find again.  I was just searching the forums when I found it so I don't know how old the post was either.  Do you by chance still have that diagram, or know the thread you posted it in?

Thank you!

 

[Zeppy44]

Keeping both you may have male and female. Good luck.

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[CosbyArt]

Thanks everyone!

@CosbyArt Okay you convinced me.  I've been thinking of separating them all week but haven't yet because I only got one enclosure and really wanted to start with just one mantis since I'm new to this.  But then two arrived alive.

I found a plastic container that's about 5x5x6" that I will make into an enclosure today and keep one mantis in for now.  I was thinking it'd be a good idea to keep both anyway in case one has molting issues or something.  In the future I could still sell the second one or release it outside if I choose to, right?  Since it is native.

By the way, and this is completely unrelated, I saw you post a diagram of mantis abdomen fullness (with drawings and photos side by side) that I can't for the life of me find again.  I was just searching the forums when I found it so I don't know how old the post was either.  Do you by chance still have that diagram, or know the thread you posted it in?

Thank you!

Might as well, after all both may not make it to adulthood (then again you may have two that do ).

Sure you can always offer one of the mantids for sale later on. Releasing mantids into the wild is controversial even if they are already there, seems silly especially with just one though. The Chinese species (Tenodera sinensis) is a naturalized species, as it was released years ago by farmers and others. Personally I do release them, but I also get the ooths I hatch/release from my backyard too (I just keep a few for myself).

Ah, yeah the diagram was to help the member in particular as her mantids were dangerously overfed, and she did not get that until I made the diagram. You can view it here though.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Might as well, after all both may not make it to adulthood (then again you may have two that do ).

Sure you can always offer one of the mantids for sale later on. Releasing mantids into the wild is controversial even if they are already there, seems silly especially with just one though. The Chinese species (Tenodera sinensis) is a naturalized species, as it was released years ago by farmers and others. Personally I do release them, but I also get the ooths I hatch/release from my backyard too (I just keep a few for myself).

Ah, yeah the diagram was to help the member in particular as her mantids were dangerously overfed, and she did not get that until I made the diagram. You can view it here though.

Haha we will see what happens.  They are officially separated now.  Thanks for convincing me, and also for the diagram.

 

[spotsy99]

Welcome to the forum! I'm new here also and have learned a lot just browsing the past posts. Everyone is so nice and willing to answer your questions. The search field has been very helpful to me.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Welcome to the forum! I'm new here also and have learned a lot just browsing the past posts. Everyone is so nice and willing to answer your questions. The search field has been very helpful to me.

Thanks!  Yeah I've been using the search field a lot too. 

 

[hibiscusmile]

WElcome, chinese keeper.

 

[JoJo76]

Welcome ^_^