Gwan-Thwei
Member
Hey guys! Long time no see!
I used to live next to a nature preserve, so if a mantid i had caught didn't seem to be thriving i could release them into the wild again. Around this time last year i moved up closer to the mountains and i was sure i wouldn't see any more of my favourite insect, but lo and behold, i found a solitary mantis out and about checking out the wild raspberry bushes in my backyard. I decided to leave it be and was pleased to find it stayed roughly in the same area and helped keep crickets and grasshoppers from eating our tomatoes and zucchini.
As much as they help though, they can't get everything, so my father decided to spray the garden area. I prepared a temporary enclosure to keep them in while everything was treated, figuring i could release them in a few days when the potency of the spray had worn off. But the longer i think about it, the more worried i get - won't the poison stay in the surviving bugs and hurt the mantid? Would it even be safe to release them back into my backyard?
As always, any help would be appreciated. I can always get a bigger enclosure, and a large field outside my work means food won't be a problem. If i leave them outside they could reproduce and make more mantids, but i'm not sure if they're safe outside at all anymore.
I used to live next to a nature preserve, so if a mantid i had caught didn't seem to be thriving i could release them into the wild again. Around this time last year i moved up closer to the mountains and i was sure i wouldn't see any more of my favourite insect, but lo and behold, i found a solitary mantis out and about checking out the wild raspberry bushes in my backyard. I decided to leave it be and was pleased to find it stayed roughly in the same area and helped keep crickets and grasshoppers from eating our tomatoes and zucchini.
As much as they help though, they can't get everything, so my father decided to spray the garden area. I prepared a temporary enclosure to keep them in while everything was treated, figuring i could release them in a few days when the potency of the spray had worn off. But the longer i think about it, the more worried i get - won't the poison stay in the surviving bugs and hurt the mantid? Would it even be safe to release them back into my backyard?
As always, any help would be appreciated. I can always get a bigger enclosure, and a large field outside my work means food won't be a problem. If i leave them outside they could reproduce and make more mantids, but i'm not sure if they're safe outside at all anymore.
