Critter Cage Modification For Mantis

[Mantis Man13]

Hello. I have a Critter cage that looks like this. http://www.amazon.com/Zilla-28010-10-Gallon-Critter-20-Inch/dp/B00176GBUE

I need to modify it to have wire on the sides as well to prevent mismolts. It already has wire mesh on the top, as you can see. I need an idea of where to place sticks for the mantis to climb, too. This mantis is a long mantis, Euchomenella heteroptera, which grows to be up to 5 inches long. Also, can I have some pointers with humidity? Thanks, in advance.

 

[Aryia]

Humidity will depend on the temperature in your house, the temperature in the tank, if you'll be using a heat lamp or not, and also the relative humidity in your area. Best thing for a terrarium type setting is just to buy a hygrometer and measure it as there are too many variables for anyone to correctly tell you how to adjust the humidity. I personally mist every 3-4 days for most species, but I've gotten away with not misting at all simply because my indoor humidity is 70-80%+.

You can order wire mesh online (I prefer fiberglass screening because it's cheap and easy to work with, aluminum keeps pricking me it's annoying) or stores like walmart carry fabric mesh. You can hotglue gun those to the side of the terrarium, though if you want it to look nicer I would just suggest putting a wooden stick structure in the middle that leads up to the top. For in-tank decoration I like to choose things that resemble the mantis. Most mantises come with natural camouflage which indicates the environment that they live in. So if your mantis looks like a thin stick, I would think that it's used to climbing on thin branches in its natural habitat.

Most of the times nymphs will choose an okay place to molt and if you only keep one mantis you'll notice signs leading up to molt (food refusal, lethargy). Those are the times when I would ramp up humidity by misting lightly daily in an open setting like that.

 

[aesculpius]

Here's my set up using a similar cage. The back of the cage has sheet bark on it (used by reptile keepers, easy to find) glued it with various fake plants inside. The substrate is coconut fiber. The mesh on the top has been augmented with relatively fine mesh to keep smaller feeders inside. It's my ghost cage in which I raise multiple generations of ghosts in. The mesh and coconut fiber hold in a lot of humidity so I only mist heavily every 3-5 days. They get a morning light misting for drinking. I misted heavily this morning so humidity is high.

As mentioned I would avoid metal screen mesh. While there are plenty of meshes around the best I have found so far is a anti-skid mesh used under throw carpets that is available at ikea. It's dirt cheap, relatively durable, and so far I have had zero fallen mantises using it as as a perch. On smaller cages I use it to the line a wall in a addition to the ceiling. For communal nymph cages I leave it unglued so there are two sides to the material helping to prevent canablism by providing more divided surfaces for perches.

Consider the artificial vines that are available if you want to swag the cage out for ways up for the mantis.

Keep in mind you will want to start your mantis in a smaller cage before moving to a larger enclosure as they age.