I don't alter my comfort zone for the mantis', I figure the one's I want will adapt, or not survive. If I want a species that needs special care, then I'd have to provide that, or I could just let natural selection take it's course and get a mantis that may or may not look like the one I thought I wanted, after it adapted to this climate.
There are microclimates everywhere, especially in a garden. Under the canopy, over the canopy, between leaves, down where the moisture settles, up in the crotches of the plants where moisture may stay, or depending on what type of plant and the texture of the 'bark' or exterior as to how the moisture and such other variable factors are maintained.
I got into mantis' for biological garden control, so I mention that alot.
It would be nice to have a control species, as the 'perfect' mantis would go, and compare how native factors affect that particular species, if that were to interest someone.
I would be interested, if I had that kind of time and attention to detail, yeah right, like I have any sanity left after living in phoenix after the influx of, shall we say, idiots, that have moved here from less civil areas
Not the nice little town it used to be, and speaking of places being altered by 'foreign species' moving in... I'm sure the native mantis' feel a difference when an 'outside' species is introduced into their room/habitat. When a butterfly flaps it's wings...
Photoperiod thingies...
What about alaska? Do they have mantis' in alaska, you know, that state with the period of time, I suppose season, where the sun really never sets for any amount of time, do you think the mantis' don't adapt, or just stay stressed?
I think that everything adapts. That if a mantis is used to perching, or laying in wait, if you will, at a specific plant that may flower only at a certain time, and/or under certain conditions, be it humidity or light or rain or whatever may be triggering its reproductive cycle into 'gettin it done' for purposes of pollenation etc to further the lineage, and during this flowering it attracts a specific type of 'food', that the mantis has come to rely on, if the mantis were to be taken from this everyday situation he would certainly suffer and stress, but I think he would adapt, and then calm back down, just like any other living creature would. He would then set up a new schedule, and get back into the swing of things, kinda what a hippy would call the circadium rhythm, or however it's spelled.
Now if you're looking for a control so as to note stimulus and response for science, well then that's all together different than just having a mantis crawl up your finger and walk around on you
I like both science and just plain ol' pets, though I have so little time, you'd not know it from my many posts recently though, to observe these little details for scientific study though, especially since I haven't figured out what triggers the mantis to move or act the way he does, other than hunger, yet, and it doesn't stress me
Even in the land of the night time sun they have microclimates that are darker than others, that I would assume some creatures seek out for refuge. I just try to offer the mantis, since I control it's living area, a variety, and exclude disease.
Right now I'm just trying to keep my mantis' alive, and happy, if they get happy
I keep them about 3-4 feet off the floor, and my humidity level is probably way different than most peoples on here, since I live in a dry climate, yet I keep a garden in my living room, that I water on a one to two day schedule, so I have a bit more humidity than others in phoenix do, given the same ventilation in their house, and the same floor plan, and the same..........
I heat my house almost exclusively with the grow lights in my garden.
If the mantis' need more heat I'll put them up on the top of my cupboards, which can get up close to 90 degrees in the daytime on some days in the winter, or I can put them in my bedroom to cool down, which I won't, which can get down to 55 degrees at night, depending on if I open the door, and how much, and if I blow air in from the living room.
My worm room varies between 60 degrees to 75 depending on the outside temp. At 44 degrees outside at night my worm room is just over 60degrees, with no heater in it, and the door closed. They like it that temp, or at least they haven't complained anyway.
I just keep the mantis' in the kitchen/dining room area, which is only seperated from the living room by a 4 foot tall by 5 foot long wall and a post. The get the heat from the garden lamps, a 600 watt and a 400 watt lamp that is vented into the dining area with a small squirrel cage fan, that I run independently, the 600w on a 4:30 pm to 10:30 am timer, and the 400 watter when it starts getting lower than 75 degrees in the living area.
Now if I want to get fussy about temp and humidiy, I have an evironmental climate controller, that I bought for about $100 on sale at a hydroponics shop.
The EVC has outlets that will turn on fans to vent when it's too hot, or the humidity is too high, or whatever. I can plug the $2 yard sale water bed heater into this unit and it will turn on when a set temp rises or lowers (I like to yard sale on saturdays, kinda my social life outside of work, and I get stuff I otherwise wouldn't splurge on). I can also plug the humidifier into it to trigger at a set level, It will also turn on a CO2 tank, in case I want to mimic those primordial days and want to raise dinosaurs..., it's for my plants, if I choose.
No need for it in the winter, but when it gets screaming hot here in the summer it can make a life or death difference in the garden's optimal output, especially if you don't use air conditioning. I'm sure I can get climatised seed, but I'll just keep the comfort level to what I find comfortable.
Some home's here use what some folks don't know of, cause they don't work well in humid areas, but we call em swamp coolers.
Just a big squirrel cage van that pulls outside air through moistened pads to cool the air and vents it inside the house to cool it. I prefer air conditioning
Though this cheap place I'm at now has now has no a/c, just a swamp cooler, outside of the push around A/C unit that I put in the room I sleep in.
In other words,
not every house has the same conditions, nor every town have the save climate, let alone a jungle or where ever a mantis may originate from, but all creatures seem to adapt, as long as climates and variables aren't extreme.
I know if I want to set my mantis' free in my garden, where the temps are a bit higher than where I keep them now, that I'll have to use that $2 yard sale humidifier I got and keep it humider
for their survival, cause daddy can't, or won't, hunt them down an personally mist each and every one.
I won't keep the garden wet cause that will cause problems with the plants, so the mantis' will have to find a place, a microclime, where the humidity is good, close to the humidifier, or in a shady place etc, and adapt to that. Chances are that his prey will seek out the same situation, or he'll just have to become a travelling salesman, till he eats. He'll adapt.
I know that alot of different animal species instinctively know when and where to travel for seasonal food and water, and believe that mantis' aren't much different. I really don't know how intelligent they are, but instinct will guide them.
After they find the 'pattern' and triggers etc, then I'm sure the stress will be reduced, though I'm sure that animals have stress all the time, or they just don't care and have no idea what stress is. Everything just responds to some stumulus, so they'll adapt.
Only thing is,
if the housing doesn't allow for different micro climes, not shade or leaves or a moister area of substrate, like under the plant or sand or something that retains moisture, then they don't have much to offer in the way of a different micro clime in the micro clime. I try to offer them more than Just This.
I have leafy sticks, some say don't use the sticks as they may hinder molting when the mantis hangs from the top of the enclosure, so I move the stick and leaves to allow a headspace area, and to keep the enclosure set up for that also.
I have a substrate of coir, and some of sand, that has something on it, one has bark that goes almost to the top of the jar, for them to climb and for the prey to feel more comfortable on, till it's chow time, and some have just leafy twigs. This offers shade, and a hangout place. Maybe a moister place when it gets drier.
Rick mentioned that I would probably want to put a hole in the side of my enclosure to mist and or feed through, since the mantis' like to hang out from the top, and that sounded like really good advise, so I now need to adapt my jars, or get different housing units.
I'm learning, but I believe that not only will I adapt to my new found knowledge, the mantis' will also adapt and do what they do, kill their prey and hang out, and climb up my arm. I wonder if they are just 'casing' me out and developing a plan to eat my head though...
I think it'd be cool to put a small screened in ff culture in a terrarium so the ff's could fly out when they want to offer the mantis a meal, and still have a safe place they'd be attracted to to do the nasty in, and keep the species going. A sort of self sustaining set up. I think it would also be cool if I could run a tube from the ff area into my aquarium so the flies could go offer themselves to the fish as well. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...
I guess they'd have to be black flies for that particular scenario though...
In short,
I try to offer micro climates in my enclosure, and I believe they'll adapt. I just don't want disease to get a foothold, but as for light cycles, they differ in different places. The land of the midnight sun would also have mantis', though I doubt they're anymore stressed than any other mantis, cause they'll adapt to those conditions and learn to find prey and where to sleep etc.
I like forums, cause they give me new idea's to incorporate. Not trying to jerk anyone's chain, even though I do it so well sometimes
I've had to restrain my swat response since keeping these buggers
