cost aside.

[looseyfur]

COST absoultly aside, if you had a 12 by 10 room you could devote to mantids how would you set them up... how would you regulate temp and humidity... what would you house them in.. how would you light it? how would you set up your staging or shelving... Live plants or fake? Glass tanks or plastic.... etc.

just wondering...

my girlfriend gave me a whole room... with the condition I not get any pedes or scorps! heh ... the scorps will be tuff to avoid I have kept quite a few before and really liked them, but pedes, at least there she and I agree...

loosey

 

[Rick]

I am still begging for my own room. I am slowly taking over this room but we have our computers in here. I am slowly convincing her to buy a wireless modem so she can put her computer elsewhere. :lol: She thinks I will not ever come out of this room if I have it to myself. If I get the entire room I will get some shelves and put them around the room. I like them to be at eye level. Then I would get some lighting to make the room brighter and because I am convinced a mantis that has good light thrives better. I thought about a humidifier for this time of year but I would probably just stick with misting the mantids. If we were living in a house I would have my own animal room but right now space is kinda at a premium but I am still close to having it to myself.

 

[looseyfur]

good luck with getting your own room Rick.

lets just say I have to wash up the dishes and move my girls sewing stuff into a small office downstairs as well as generaly do a bit of asskissing (i.e. flowers and dinners) but the room is all mine ( insert evil laughter)

just wondering what elabrate setup I will go with even though tupperware and the like are more then suitable. I do plan to go all out for my little alien friends and have a temp regualted room with glass tanks set with live plants ( I have a pretty decent green thumb anyhow) and some custom shelving. may be a few months...

seen some pretty elabrate cabinate setups when I was into saltwater fish setups and may even build some tanks in the invert room in a similar style so they are great to look at as well as being great homes for mantids.

I also have a closet in there which is quite large and I am thinking of raising prey items in it.... throw in some good books and a small desk and I doubt I will leave that room very often ( so maybe your wife is right )



loosey

 

[Rick]

That sounds good. I have spent a good deal of money on glass tanks. I just prefer them. I also love using live plants. My box turtle enclosure is planted with live plants too.

Here is my setup a month or so ago. Box turtle on the right and aquatic turts on the left. Mantids in the middle which I have more of now.

 

[DeShawn]

12x10 room... hmmm, how would I do it?

Well, for starters...

Kind of blurry, but you get the picture. I just finished setting this up a few days ago. I have added a few other things since then. I will take updated pics later when I get a bit more time.

 

[Rick]

DeShawn, what are the white and black containers? Those are also the same type shelves I am planning on going with.

 

[DeShawn]

They are mesh containers that I use for mantids that have a hard time climbing plastic or glass as well as larger mantids. They come in sizes 12x12x12 and 15x15x22. Really good for mantids, and pretty decently priced too.

 

[Rick]

Where can you get those from? Also I notice you don't use any substrate in your enclosures. Do you have high ambient humidity?

 

[Andrew]

You can get them from www.livemonarch.com

 

[looseyfur]

yes those are cool but, you must tempature regulate the whole room then right? cant very well use a herp heat mat if needed or can you. I kept alot of T's and I know there are alot of down and dirty tupperware setups which is really all thats needed and of course when you have 75+ critters to care for... and I realize you dont need substrate or humidfiyers but heres my thought on that... making this room is a project, just like making a fish tank cabinate as long as you make something that doesnt harm the intended housee, you can be as artful or elabrate as you want. Its also fun to learn to control the environment within the room, and to try to automate things like lights temp and humidity.

have a look at some of the elabrate scorp setups on arachnoboards... yeah those keepers didnt need to do all that the scorps dont need 1/3rd of that to survive... but I see by what they created for them that they care overtly for their insects, and more then likely had a wicked good time setting it up and fussing over getting it right.

i.e. cost aside...

of course its just as intresting to hear cost effective setups, how to cut corners without sacrificing the mantids quality of care, that type of stuff...

as long as it gets the brain going.

heh

loosey

 

[Rick]

I just keep it at room temp. Most mantids do fine with just room temperature.

 

[DeShawn]

I agree with the room temperature. I raise all of my mantids under the same temperature (70-80°F). I just spray the ones that supposedly need more humidity a couple times a day. I do not use substrate because it is too much of a pain to deal with when keeping so many mantids. When I use to keep only a dozen or so mantids, I did use substrate and have much more elaborate setups. But that was mostly for my own benefit to make my setup look "cool". I'm not exactly sure if my mantids actually cared, although they did exibit more of their natural behaviors when in a more natural type environment (duh!). I noticed they would run and hide when given the chance, and quickly go into a threat display when they felt threatened... something my mantids now seem to need allot more provoking to do.

As for the containers, I get them from Chris at www.livemonarch.com. You can order them from there or from me, doesn't matter. I sell them at the same price, and a bit cheaper if its included with mantid orders. They seem to work really well for H. grandis and G. gongylodes, as well as African mantids. I would imagine they are good for any mantid that does not require higher humidity.

 

[Jesse]

I never had molting problems at my old apartment with any species and i kept them at room temp and ambient humidity with no substrate, but the RH was always 40% or higher even with the heat or AC on. In my new apartment I've had molting problems galore(molting into adults/unfurling the wings properly), because the RH is often less than 20% now that the heat is on regularly.

 

[Rick]

Mine is always between 45-55%. I have been tempted to just mist every other day and use nothing to hold humidity and see what happens.

 

[MicroMantis]

WOW you guys spend a TON on this stuff. Just put each in a bottle and they will live. Add a branch from outside to insure happyness. A gallon jug works great for nymphs and mating mantises. You should save the money where it counts. Mantises, Food, And Equipment.

 

[Andrew]

A bottle and gallon jugs dont provide much room for the mantis to move around. I wouldnt use those as mantis cages IMO. The suggested space for a mantis is 3x the mantids length for height and width.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[Rick]

I have done experiments with nymphs. One in clear container like a tank and one in a small cup or jug. The ones with plenty of space and light are larger, more colorful and I am sure more happy. Besides, I like the look of glass aquariums.

 

[DeShawn]

When keeping only a few mantids, most people want to have nice looking setups where they can show off their mighty beasts proudly. I am no stranger to the ghetto money saving techniques as you can see here http://www.mantiskingdom.com/setup.php (yes, even the milk jug!), but even I have a few tanks with nice setups so I can show off my killer attack mantids with pride. It's all about the hobby and having fun learning about these amazing and curious creatures. If you have the money... spend it, or give it to me 8)

 

[MicroMantis]

DeShawn is right, keep the sick mantises in the milk jug near the trash, and the healthy one in a mansion sized cage with ac and radio, oh and spinners. :lol: