Being a Mantis Breeder...

[Andrew]

what are these "exhausted" species in your opinion? Be interesting to hear from everyone too...

Basically any species that Yen was successful with and decided to drop.

 

[Mantida]

Basically any species that Yen was successful with and decided to drop.

That's basically almost every species that exists in captivity. :lol:

 

[yen_saw]

Basically any species that Yen was successful with and decided to drop.

That's basically almost every species that exists in captivity. :lol:

Ok guilty as charged !!

 

[OGIGA]

Dang it, Yen!! Just kidding.

Maybe Macrojunkie can get the popularity of a species up by taking really good pictures of them. :lol:

 

[Morpheus uk]

I absolutly hate it to be honest

I really like mantids and mantid keeping but trying endlessly to track down mates kinda pisses me off, taht and the fact i can NEVER find and b4&t*rd mates, no female whalbergii, no male indian flower, no male twig, no female wide arm, no female bud wing, no male ghost. Keep getting stuck with @@@@@@ same *** breeding stock :angry: :angry: :angry:

They ONLY breeding succses ive had is my dead leaves, ghosts, and euchos

Yes, a touchy subject <_<

 

[Morpheus uk]

BTW the reason i breed my inverts is that i think its a shame to have such an incredible and weird pet but then when it dies thats it you`ll never see one again, so i reckon its great breeding cause then you always have some and plus you can make money to get more :lol:

 

[macro junkie]

I absolutly hate it to be honestI really like mantids and mantid keeping but trying endlessly to track down mates kinda pisses me off, taht and the fact i can NEVER find and b4&t*rd mates, no female whalbergii, no male indian flower, no male twig, no female wide arm, no female bud wing, no male ghost. Keep getting stuck with @@@@@@ same *** breeding stock :angry: :angry: :angry:

They ONLY breeding succses ive had is my dead leaves, ghosts, and euchos

Yes, a touchy subject <_<

i take it u didnt get the popa male from graham like i didnt get the orhid male from him.he said he would after hes used it but that was weeks ago.it dont look very good for me..im gutted..i have a female orhid ready to mate and no male..breeding sucks somtimes!

 

[Morpheus uk]

Ditto

My male popa kicked it 11 days before they were perfectly matable

 

[hibiscusmile]

To all the Mantid Breeders out there, is breeding mantids:

1. Interesting?

2. Profitable if you sell some of the nymphs?

3. Hard work?

I'm considering breeding and selling but I'm not sure it's all worth it.

:blink: [SIZE=12pt]I almost completely missed this post![/SIZE]

Wanna know why?

Cause of #3! I never worked so hard in all me life! Thanks Nick, good thing your are 1000s of miles away! Cause if you were near me I would kick your :angry: . Yea u know.

I have raised two boys, ran a farm alone, worked & still doing the books alongside my hubby in our Glass business, had a sideline of Resilvering Antique mirrors for 10 years, built our 64 x 40' barn and I don't even remember the rest and I have never worked this hard before in all my life. If I go to bed by 2am I feel lucky :lol: .

# 1, It is very interesting, I am always amazed at what I can do whenever I put my mind to it. I cannot believe I keep these bugs alive for over a year most times and the feeder insects has been a learning experience all in itself!

#1 Again, cause it deserved a full answer, I have loved learning all of this and the best part is the people I meet due to being involved with them. I have always wanted to talk to people all over the world, cause I think the different races and cultures are so interesting ( I think God does too, that is 1 reason why he seperated us at the Tower of Babel) and this has fulfilled that desire. I am meeting people online that I would of never met otherwise.

#2, Don't know yet. But if you divide the hours I put into it by the funds, I probably make 10 cents an hour!

ps, gotta go, hubby coming up for his Invoices I was supposed to be making while I whiled away my office time here pss don't tell him!

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Well I'm only into mantises cause their oogly googly bug eyes make me smile. I keep them strictly as pets, and can't imagine where some members on here find the time to raise and keep all the mantises they do at once. I would seriously love to visit some members bug rooms one day and squee at all the tiny clawed mantis goodness.

Although I know little of trying to profit off of mantises, I would say no to expecting to make a good deal of cash off of them. Of course then again I don't think anyone should get into breeding any kind of animal solely for profit. Things like that are why their so many other genetic riddled animals being put down each year after being popped out of some byb or mill.

I'm curious to those who breed mantises, have any of you worked with developing healthy lines of mantises? Do you cull off lines who die younger or have a higher numbers of ill young? Or do you breed for certain size, temperament, color, ect? Guess I'm kind of curious if there is any planning behind the breedings you choose to do?

 

[Christian]

There were too many posts to answer to all the topics.

So, some general stuff:

If you have to search for mates you do something wrong. It may happen once every few years, but usually a stock should be self-sustaining. Most people don't raise enough numbers. If you are owning one female of this and one male of that species you are not a breeder. Breeders have 10 pairs of this species and, say, 8 of another. This is the most widespread beginner fault. If you want to breed, raise high numbers. If you don't have the space, concentrate on just a few species. If you want more species and you have not enough space, you simply cannot breed regularly. This would lead to an "yes" as answer to question 3.

Be patient! There aren't species which are not popular. The most popular species is always the one which recently vanished from the stock! If you have a species which anyone has, quit selling larvae. Keep enough for your own stock and feed the others to larger mantids. Or kill them otherwise. This sounds cruel, but this is truly breeding reality. What to do with surplus stuff if noone wants it? They just consume space and ressources. I, for instance, will have to kill about 35 adult Deroplatys soon. If you can't manage high numbers, you should better choose another hobby. The point is that the species in stock undergo popularity cycles. What isn't appreciated at moment may be in a year. That's why one has to be patient. Or alternatively, if a species doesn't interest you at all, quit it in favour of another. If you were the last to breed it, hey, who cares? You offered it and noone wanted it. So the answer to question 2 is: not much profitable as such, but sometimes enough to sustain other species.

Question one hasn't really to be answered.

 

[tier]

Hi

I'm sorry Christian, but I cannot help you with your 35 Deroplatys. You know it: I have no place for nothing because of my huge breeding groups. I can only take 2 per week for my geckos

best regards,

tier

edit:

1:yes

2:no

3:yes, very, but I love it for let's say 50%.

 

[Rob Byatt]

HiI'm sorry Christian, but I cannot help you with your 35 Deroplatys. You know it: I have no place for nothing because of my huge breeding groups. I can only take 2 per week for my geckos

best regards,

tier

edit:

1:yes

2:no

3:yes, very, but I love it for let's say 50%.

I have some Plistospilota guineensis with a big appetite

 

[Mantida]

I, for instance, will have to kill about 35 adult Deroplatys soon.

:blink:

That's an awful lot... how many do you have total ?

 

[Christian]

I will retain just the paired ones - not many this time. As I said before, it is the most difficult species I had for years. The unpaired ones are just needless feeders. Well, this species is rather rarely found in collections, so I have a destination for them.

 

[macro junkie]

give them away if u have to many..

 

[Christian]

Noone pays for unfertilized females. And, sincerely, gifts are for friends at Christmas...

 

[macro junkie]

Noone pays for unfertilized females. And, sincerely, gifts are for friends at Christmas...

 

[Kruszakus]

I thought it would be fun - but I became obsessive about it - I've been spending too much time with them - I stopped shaving, I curtailed my training, I gained 20 lbs, I stopped going out - just closed myself in my own little world. Soon after that my girlfriend broke up with me. She said the other day: "Get out of my house you worthless bum! You gave up on life didn't you?!"

I've hit the rock bottom, you better take a lesson from what I have to say - don't throw your life away for those mantids, just don't.

 

[macro junkie]

I thought it would be fun - but I became obsessive about it - I've been spending too much time with them - I stopped shaving, I curtailed my training, I gained 20 lbs, I stopped going out - just in closed myself in my own little world. Soon after that my girlfriend broke up with me. She said the other day: "Get out of my house you worthless bum! You gave up on life didn't you?!"I've hit the rock bottom, you better take a lesson from what you read here - don't throw your life away for those mantids, just don't.

are u still breeding.?