Do any of you guys take your mantids outside?

[thalassarche]

Yeah the mesh net cage I've got is from one of those "raise caterpillars into butterflies" things, it was on sale at work so I picked it up and raised four Vanessa cardui painted ladies. Should have realized when I bought it that it'd give me the itch to have pet bugs again, haha.

 

[MantidBro]

I will be offering wild silkmoth eggs for sale in afew months. Late May/June. Here in Maine there are cecropia, polyphemus, luna, maybe promethia. There is a smaller hyalophera ,related to a. I can't remember the name at this moment.

Cool. I'd get some but I've got enough pets at the moment! It'll be later on when I plan to buy some. Will you be selling the eggs for a while? And I wouldn't be picky about which species I got first.

 

[MantidBro]

Yeah the mesh net cage I've got is from one of those "raise caterpillars into butterflies" things, it was on sale at work so I picked it up and raised four Vanessa cardui painted ladies. Should have realized when I bought it that it'd give me the itch to have pet bugs again, haha.

I considered buying one of those but I thought of my cats... the claws would probably go right through the net and could cause damage to my mantids. Though I think I'll definitely get one in the future for the adult male mantids I want to take outside. Having pet bugs is the best, lol.

 

[lancaster1313]

Once in a while I will take a nymph or a big girl out for a photo or to set on me on the porch. The other day when I took a Carolina out for her first adult photos, she went straight down into the middle of the spider plant that I put her on. :shifty: :tt2: It wasn't easy to get her out of there without damaging the plant.

I put my Orchid girl out in her net enclosure for a couple hours on some partly cloudy days. I think that may have something to do with the ootheca that she left in there.

She is much less lazy and quite active in the warm humid breeze. ^_^

 

[gripen]

I put my chinese girls out on the sedum in the summer. When I do that I don't have to feed them for a while because they hunt on their own.

 

[Sticky]

Cool. I'd get some but I've got enough pets at the moment! It'll be later on when I plan to buy some. Will you be selling the eggs for a while? And I wouldn't be picky about which species I got first.

How long I can have eggs avaliable depends on the moths. Each specie is around for different amounts of time. I think luna is the longest. Each year is different too. no predicting what each year will be like.

I can say basically the season for the moths starts about late may to early july.

I have never sold the eggs before and would be interested in trading maybe.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Check the temperature before taking them outside. It wouldn't do for them to catch a chill!

Also, don't risk taking non-native species outside. If they fly off or get away from you, it won't be good.

 

[MantidBro]

Once in a while I will take a nymph or a big girl out for a photo or to set on me on the porch. The other day when I took a Carolina out for her first adult photos, she went straight down into the middle of the spider plant that I put her on. :shifty: :tt2: It wasn't easy to get her out of there without damaging the plant.

I put my Orchid girl out in her net enclosure for a couple hours on some partly cloudy days. I think that may have something to do with the ootheca that she left in there.

She is much less lazy and quite active in the warm humid breeze. ^_^

Nice! I've heard a couple other people take their mantids out on the porch, too. That's cool that your Carolina was exploring. I love watching them 'have fun'. I can imagine that wasn't easy...!

Yeah she probably became stimulated and it caused her to lay the ootheca.

Yeah I realize mantids love heat, like it means everything to them, brings them to life, makes them act wild. I've got heat lamps for mine. They all get turns.

 

[MantidBro]

I put my chinese girls out on the sedum in the summer. When I do that I don't have to feed them for a while because they hunt on their own.

Sweet!

 

[MantidBro]

How long I can have eggs avaliable depends on the moths. Each specie is around for different amounts of time. I think luna is the longest. Each year is different too. no predicting what each year will be like.

I can say basically the season for the moths starts about late may to early july.

I have never sold the eggs before and would be interested in trading maybe.

Oh I see, thanks for the info

 

[MantidBro]

Check the temperature before taking them outside. It wouldn't do for them to catch a chill!

Also, don't risk taking non-native species outside. If they fly off or get away from you, it won't be good.

Don't worry, I make sure it's warm enough, I'm very protective of my mantids. What I go by for my mantids is, if I'm hot, they're a bit hotter. And if I'm cold, they're a bit colder. They have smaller bodies so obviously they are effected by weather faster than we are.

I am going to risk taking non-native species outside, though -- sorry. But not adult males, due to the flying. I've never lost a mantid outside before, I keep a pretty good eye on them.