Ghost mantis headache

[ghostmantis84]

Hey everyone, 1st time on this new forum....few questions

1. How much is too much...the ghost setup is currently peat on bottom of cage with sphagnum moss for humidity with twigs and artifical leaves, is there a better setup much easier to clean?

2. The mantis is too big for fruit flies and just strikes at everything else....ie wax worms crickets locusts etc

3. Is warm water better than cold water for misting?

thanks for any help, i know newbie's like me can be a massive pain lol

 

[mrblue]

welcome. try the search function, it is very useful (even if sometimes you have to sift through alot of threads you dont need, eventually you'll find one that helps you/youre looking for). the setup is for the most part completely up to you/personal taste pretty much. "peat on bottom of cage with sphagnum moss for humidity with twigs and artifical leaves" sounds fine. i dont think there is realy a "best" or "ideal" for this species as its care is not so hard/specific, so a range of things will work fine. other people may keep them in different ways that could work too. this species can be picky about food. if it is striking food away, it may not be hungry or may be getting ready to moult. a search will help you more with this question.

i dont think warm water is better for misting than cold. i usually just pick up the spray bottle and spray, so its room temperature. i've sprayed warm and cold before, doesnt seem to make a difference. even if it is warm water in the spray bottle, as soon as it leaves the bottle it loses alot of temperature to the air. especially as it is in many droplets when you mist, so the total surface is large, as is the potential for temeprature loss to the surrounding air. well, this is not a fact, this is just how i imagine it in my head! so theres not such a big difference either way i reckon.

 

[The_Asa]

I'm not really sure what the problem is with the food. Try different sizes of food until you get the right one. You can try houseflies or bluebottles.

Your setup sounds fine.

It doesn't matter what the temperature of the water is. Just make sure you are using distilled water, and not tap. Tap water contains chemicals that may harm or kill the mantis. :mellow: