Hello everyone

[Trollolloller]

To start off, when I was a kid I used to love catching wild mantids and keeping them as pets. I always though they were the coolest insects by a long shot. I bought my nymphs on eBay, but I found mantisplace.com shortly after. It'd been at least ten years since I've so much as seen a mantis but I still loved them. I got my nymphs a couple weeks ago and I love them. Having a little trouble taking care of them, but I love them. My wife hates insects and wont let me take them out of their container inside the house, haha. She's ok with worms, lizards, fish... but not insects... Anyway, looking forward to getting to know people here.

 

[Paradoxica]

Welcome

 

[sally]

Welcome

 

[patrickfraser]

Welcome. Where you at? :lol:

 

[Trollolloller]

North Carolina, but I'm from California. Used to live in the Sacramento Valley and Fresno briefly. Found several wild mantids around there.

 

[thalassarche]

Greetings! I'm also in NC by way of California: North Bay for me. What kind of nymphs do you have?

 

[hierodula]

hello from Pleasanton, CA

 

[jrh3]

probably s. carolina, welcome .

 

[BugLover]

Welcome!

 

[brancsikia339]

welcome!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Howdy! so she can stand a worm, but not an insect? weird! I can't stand worms or crawling things, I wanna see legs!

 

[Trollolloller]

Greetings! I'm also in NC by way of California: North Bay for me. What kind of nymphs do you have?

All I know is that they're Chinese. I bought them off a guy on eBay for $20. It came with 20+ nymphs, and only three remain now, but they seem pretty healthy and energetic.

Howdy! so she can stand a worm, but not an insect? weird! I can't stand worms or crawling things, I wanna see legs!

I know, my wife is weird like that. Haha.

 

[thalassarche]

All I know is that they're Chinese. I bought them off a guy on eBay for $20. It came with 20+ nymphs, and only three remain now, but they seem pretty healthy and energetic.

Sounds about right for Chinese mantises, they have a high die-off rate in the early instars.

 

[Trollolloller]

Yeah I don't doubt that at all. First day I had them, at least three died of cannibalism. There were already a couple dead in the container when they got here. Most died of starvation cuz the crickets I got them were too big. Some died of unknown reasons as well. But they are L2-L4 now I believe, and the ones left are doing pretty good it seems.

 

[ladygigi]

Welcome to Mantid Forum! I'm kinda new here in the forum and live in Arizona by way of Fresno, Calif. :lol: LOL Been here in AZ for about a year and a half now. I just started with mantids earlier this month (totally on accident) and am raising Iris Oratorias, almost 70 of them at this point. I too am having a hard time caring for them, but for different reasons. You'd have to read my introductory post to understand a little more. Anyway, that's all moot. Just know that I'm sticking it out and making the best of it. Starting to actually have a little fun with it! (That's saying a lot, again, you'd have to read some of my older posts to understand.) Good luck with your Chinese Mantises and look forward to seeing you around the forum. ^_^ Again, welcome!

P.S. Maybe you can post some pics of your little babies. . .

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[Trollolloller]

This is one of them a couple weeks ago.

[image deleted by thread author]

 

[ladygigi]

This is one of them a couple weeks ago.

080.jpg

Munchin' down! Awwww.... he's a little cutie. Doesn't look like a Chinese Mantis though. I could be wrong, I don't know that much about mantids yet. But I'm thinking that the Chinese Mantises I've seen looked different than that. I'll leave that to the experts. There's a lot of people in here a lot more qualified than I am to say. But he sure is a cutie and seems to have a pretty good appetite! LOL :lol:

 

[Trollolloller]

If I could upload another photo I'd show you what they look like now, but the file is too large to upload it.