Hello all!
Just joined over the weekend because I am interested in getting my first mantis as the GF has turned down ever allowing me to keep scorpions in the apartment lol! We live in a studio apartment so whatever is kept will be seen from pretty much anywhere else in the apartment. Plus she pays the majority of the rent and Im already taking up a huge amount of our entry hallway with my Moon Jellyfish tank that is under construction
. The only way I was able to convince her to get a Mantis is because she can help design the enclosure with all sorts of pretty flowers etc and I showed her many videos of people handling mantids etc.
First off, a little about me. My name is Jamie and I live in Minnetonka, MN. Currently working as a mortgage banker. I have been interested in mantids for a long time but they really sparked my curiosity this past summer when my GF was the bridesmaid in a wedding and her little thing of flowers that she had to hold had a very tiny mantis nymph on it that I promptly rescued and held on to through the ceremony. We released it outside later because I had no idea at the time of what would be involved in keeping it. Im assuming this was probably in the flower nursery that shipped the flowers. I live in MN and there are no species of mantis that are native to here that I know of.
Anyways, Ive been doing a lot of internet research this past week and looking into getting my first one soon but I do have some general questions that Im sure you guys can answer in a heartbeat.... I would have posted these in the appropriate subforums but I thought it would be nicer to introduce myself first!
1. In trying to decide on a first species to get, Ive narrowed it down to either the Giant African or the Giant Asian. Is there a difference in terms of behavior in these two? I am looking for the most calm species that will be able to sit on my hand from time to time and not do its defense display and lash out at my fingers.
2. Are these species known to fly at all? I have read that the females tend not to since they are heavier/bigger. Do the regular sites that are selling l3-l4 nymphs provide certain sexes or is it just whatever they feel like sending out?
3. Our apartment is kept strictly between 73-76F year round with no humidity except for a slight bit that comes in during the summer. Will this be ok for the species listed above?
4. In terms of feeding it, I would love to be able to feed it flying insects of some sort but once again, the studio apartment issue comes into play and I dont really have anywhere to raise a culture of anything other than our heated garage storage unit. I say "heated" but this is Minnesota and the temperatures in the garage in the winter get down to about 45F. My question here is about those reptile tank heating pads... There IS a socket plugin in the storage unit that I could plug a heating pad into. I just cant use a lamp of any sort that would draw attention to a power sucker that is constantly on. Would this work for heating a glass mason jar full of dubia/lobster roaches or crickets to the appropriate temp and allowing them to survive for a while down there during the winter?
Thats all I got for now but Im sure more will pop up soon! I look forward to taking on this new pet and also meeting the kind folks of this forum!
Thanks in advance!
Jamie
Just joined over the weekend because I am interested in getting my first mantis as the GF has turned down ever allowing me to keep scorpions in the apartment lol! We live in a studio apartment so whatever is kept will be seen from pretty much anywhere else in the apartment. Plus she pays the majority of the rent and Im already taking up a huge amount of our entry hallway with my Moon Jellyfish tank that is under construction
. The only way I was able to convince her to get a Mantis is because she can help design the enclosure with all sorts of pretty flowers etc and I showed her many videos of people handling mantids etc.First off, a little about me. My name is Jamie and I live in Minnetonka, MN. Currently working as a mortgage banker. I have been interested in mantids for a long time but they really sparked my curiosity this past summer when my GF was the bridesmaid in a wedding and her little thing of flowers that she had to hold had a very tiny mantis nymph on it that I promptly rescued and held on to through the ceremony. We released it outside later because I had no idea at the time of what would be involved in keeping it. Im assuming this was probably in the flower nursery that shipped the flowers. I live in MN and there are no species of mantis that are native to here that I know of.
Anyways, Ive been doing a lot of internet research this past week and looking into getting my first one soon but I do have some general questions that Im sure you guys can answer in a heartbeat.... I would have posted these in the appropriate subforums but I thought it would be nicer to introduce myself first!
1. In trying to decide on a first species to get, Ive narrowed it down to either the Giant African or the Giant Asian. Is there a difference in terms of behavior in these two? I am looking for the most calm species that will be able to sit on my hand from time to time and not do its defense display and lash out at my fingers.
2. Are these species known to fly at all? I have read that the females tend not to since they are heavier/bigger. Do the regular sites that are selling l3-l4 nymphs provide certain sexes or is it just whatever they feel like sending out?
3. Our apartment is kept strictly between 73-76F year round with no humidity except for a slight bit that comes in during the summer. Will this be ok for the species listed above?
4. In terms of feeding it, I would love to be able to feed it flying insects of some sort but once again, the studio apartment issue comes into play and I dont really have anywhere to raise a culture of anything other than our heated garage storage unit. I say "heated" but this is Minnesota and the temperatures in the garage in the winter get down to about 45F. My question here is about those reptile tank heating pads... There IS a socket plugin in the storage unit that I could plug a heating pad into. I just cant use a lamp of any sort that would draw attention to a power sucker that is constantly on. Would this work for heating a glass mason jar full of dubia/lobster roaches or crickets to the appropriate temp and allowing them to survive for a while down there during the winter?
Thats all I got for now but Im sure more will pop up soon! I look forward to taking on this new pet and also meeting the kind folks of this forum!
Thanks in advance!
Jamie
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