Cloves, Cinnamon, and mantids.

[danswan]

I'm using cloves and cinnamon in my house as pest repellent, but am concerned about the effect this will have upon mantids. Granted, mantids travel high, while the spices are on my floor, but my house air smells like cloves.

Will this stress them?

 

[infinity]

I don't think this can really be confirmed through general observations in the literature... and i believe these spices have only been *tested* with pest insects. However, you could do a small experiment and set up a long enclosure with the spices in one end... If you find your mantis pushed up against the glass at the other end then i'd say it's stressing it out - just make sure there's adequate ventillation (so try this in a net cage) - otherwise you'll get a saturation of the air from the volatile chemicals in the spices.

A better way to explain this is to think of a water dish in a closed air-tight cage... the next morning you'll see condensation over the whole inside of the container. If you put that water dish in a net cage, you'll get a localised humidity around the bowl due to air circulating through the holes in the net...

I'd love to be in that room though, I love those smells! - my room just has that dead cricket smell and slight yeasty smell from the FF medium