Beginner setup, please evaluate :)

[Bdawg]

Just got this set up, awaiting arrival of my first. Praying Mantids, a pair of Miomantis Paykullii (hope they both make it) and I have this basic set up, and just want to make sure this will suffice. 

I have paper towel at the bottom, I have coir substrate arriving tomorrow, but in the even the Mantids arrive first, then they have a home set up. I sourced branches from a tree outside, cleaned them in hot water, then gave them about 20ish minutes in the oven to sanitize them. I cleaned the jars with a fresh sponge, little tiny bit of warning up liquid and thoroughly rinsed with hot water. 

For the lid, I have mesh arriving tomorrow, but drilled plenty of tiny ventilation holes, see picture. In case mesh arrives late, I did this to ensure it would at least do them in the meantime. When the mesh arrives I shall either drill large holes and line the entire underside with mesh, or remove the entire lid except the rim, and have it all be mesh, depending on what you guys recommend. Also, would minimal use of superglue suffice to fix the mesh to the lid?

I have 2 identical setups, in the event the spare nymph also makes it here safely. 

Please give me an honest critique, as I only want the best for these little guys. 

 

[Ocelotbren]

If it's possible to rotate the enclosure so that the lid is at the top, that would be ideal to allow them to hang from the mesh upside down, which is what most mantids spend most of their time doing.  The other option is to add mesh to the top of the cage instead so that they have a surface that is easy to grip for spending all their time and above all for molting safely.  For the mesh on the lid, you can either add it to the inside as you mentioned, or cut a large area out of the lid and cover it with mesh.  Hot glue is just fine for securing it.

This guide was very useful to me when making an enclosure myself:



Even the top picture alone gives you a good idea of how to put in the mesh.

Another thing to consider is the placement of sticks to avoid possible bad molting options, which primarily means ones that are too close to the ground.  If your mantids are small enough that they could hang from any of the sticks in there and still have 2x their length below them before touching the ground, it should be fine, but if the lower stick is close to the ground, you might consider moving it.  They may not actually choose to molt from there, but it's safer to not even give them the option!   You could put it at a more vertical angle though, such as standing it up in the bottom.  If needed you can use low temp hot glue to secure the top end so it stays in an upright position.

Lastly, a feeder hole is optional, but is nice to have.  They are described in the above tutorial as well.

Good luck!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Oops I just saw that you had a double post and the other one is where the discussion took place.  It looks like you already got some good advice over there!