Bugatorium

[MandellaMandy123]

If I ever get a ghost mantis, I'll probably get it from you

 

[garin33]

You got that Agent A! when the doorbell rings, beware of owner, forget the dog!

thanks Nick! u a sweetie too!

well, I like the med round the best, it seems to house a lot of large mantis, like the sheild and still give s them room to move around. I have no problem cleaning the containers, and the science behind it now, is I do not even most times have to remove the mantis to do that, sometimes they get a little water too, but my feeder hole is also my cleaning hole, I take it to the slop sink, and run nice warm water in it and unless it has nasty runny poop (frass) I don't use soap. The water just runs out the hole and wala! all done! now I have to delete all of you, since u now know my secret. As to the leaves , I keep the floor clean and most crickets and roaches have no where to hide, the cricks will climb, but for the most part they seem to see them just fine, when I first started, I was so freaked that the cricket would get the mantis that it tood 3 to 5 hours to feed, now with around 5000 mantis underfoot, it is an hour and a half to two, much easier as all is as u said down to a science, I am still learning new things though. The flies go in fruit fly bottles which fit in the feeder holes and I just tap it to remove the flies from the lid and stick it in the hole, works fine, only with this many I have to use a quart pop bottle to put flies in, I go thru about 2000 flies a day and usually only lose a dozen if that. Grannyma tired!!! Fuzzy tuesday is morrow, if I can I will take pic for you guys while he feeds the crickets!

Hi Rebecca,

Thank you for the helpful information. Wow, 5000 mantids, that is amazing! I don't know how you do it.

Just so I understand correctly:

So you leave the bottoms of the containers clear with no substrate and to clean, you take off the lid and pour in water and then pour out the water out of the side feeding hole? Sounds really great and I never thought about doing it that way. You are able to leave the mantis in the container?

Thanks again!

 

[hibiscusmile]

yea, thats it, sometimes I dont take the lid off, like my medium cave has ooth hatchings in them, when time to clean, I dump out the do do and just run water thru the hole and have my hand to catch any babies who are not smart enough to get out of the way, but lo an behold, there is always a budwing or lobata who just gotta see if they can swim! here is pic of maggots I seperated today while Fuzzy had his nap, granny wears her baby out, we go "outside" with an outside dance and song and after an hour, ususally 2 but is 40F here, when I bring him in he is ready for his song and rocky chair and grannies arms! her loves her baby~!!! but I digress! and here is one container with light I made and usually the feeder hole would be in bottom.

 

[agent A]

hey rebecca, do your maggots ever contain pink ones? i found a weird perplexing pink maggot in the normal maggots that u sent me earlier this month :huh:

 

[Mime454]

hey rebecca, do your maggots ever contain pink ones? i found a weird perplexing pink maggot in the normal maggots that u sent me earlier this month :huh:

HAHA Me too! I want to see what type of fly it turns into. She said that they're died because they come from a fishing company.

 

[fleurdejoo]

I love Rebecca's containers!!

I have a ton of them but prefer the Hex's to the round!

 

[hibiscusmile]

The maggots wont die because they are pink, they just are dyed! member "charley and the chocolate factory" pink maggots are for a prize!

 

[agent A]

The maggots wont die because they are pink, they just are dyed! member "charley and the chocolate factory" pink maggots are for a prize!

Well ill post the pic of the pink magger here to claim my prize :lol:

Gimme a few though i just got home from school

 

[Mime454]

The maggots wont die because they are pink, they just are dyed! member "charley and the chocolate factory" pink maggots are for a prize!

That would be a cool promotion. I have 2.

 

[garin33]

yea, thats it, sometimes I dont take the lid off, like my medium cave has ooth hatchings in them, when time to clean, I dump out the do do and just run water thru the hole and have my hand to catch any babies who are not smart enough to get out of the way, but lo an behold, there is always a budwing or lobata who just gotta see if they can swim! here is pic of maggots I seperated today while Fuzzy had his nap, granny wears her baby out, we go "outside" with an outside dance and song and after an hour, ususally 2 but is 40F here, when I bring him in he is ready for his song and rocky chair and grannies arms! her loves her baby~!!! but I digress! and here is one container with light I made and usually the feeder hole would be in bottom.

Hi Rebecca,

As far as the Medium Round, it looks really nice and is a great price but the dimensions are only 7x5.75 so I assume that would mean that the maximum size mantid would be 2 1/4"? Or because of the shape, it's ok to house a mantid that is about 3 inches like Sphodromantis, etc.

Thanks.

 

[hibiscusmile]

funny guy, that is not the prize! no, this house is good for any size mantis, you won't believe how big it is till u put a large mantis in it, they do fine in this size.

 

[agent A]

here is the pink magger!

do i get my prize (or the orchid nymphs u promised me in return for the 3 L3 orchid males i sent u) yet? PLEAZEEEEEE ^_^

 

[hibiscusmile]

no prize for you! yes, when they are ready, prob next week. ask me at my email next time. didn't I just answer u yesterday? dont answer here, email me, going nite nite!

 

[Mime454]

here is the pink magger!

do i get my prize (or the orchid nymphs u promised me in return for the 3 L3 orchid males i sent u) yet? PLEAZEEEEEE ^_^

Mine is way pinker than that! I should get a better prize!

 

[Mime454]

Ignore the tau ooth residue.

 

[agent A]

Ignore the tau ooth residue.

why dont u photograph that same magger on a shiny black surface, such as the lid of a dell inspiron

then we'll see who's is pinker :lol:

 

[Elo500]

Just read through this amazing thread. now I'm inspired to go make some containers. Have you thought about consolidating this thread for a quick PDF on making containers and solving common mantid raising issues? Thanks for the great info!

 

[hibiscusmile]

I dont know what you mean (consolidate)

 

[Elo500]

It's amazing to read how your processes evolved over the years. Thanks for sharing your knowledge ! I'm new to the hobby and it was very helpful to read this thread.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Super cool! I've always been interested in how the highly enviable "big-keepers" keep their mantids.

Me? I use a counter in the laundry room. That's where all the smaller pets (a crested gecko, feeder crickets, mantids and other insects in season, other creatures) besides the dog reside.