Hello! My name is Maria and I live in Scotland, although I'm English.
I volunteer in a zoology museum, in which are many live exhibits - some with four legs, most with more legs, and a handful with no legs at all!
My favourite of all the animals are the mantids. I always liked them since being a little girl, but they were never my favourite insects until now. I met Pete the Rhombodera basalis (last year's mantid in the museum) in my first year there and loved the way that he would watch me, and the way he hunted and ate. He wasn't used to people hanling him so I didn't. He died at the ripe old age of 1 and was replaced by another R. basalis named Pete (they have to keep the names the same because we get a lot of school children and sometimes they ask how Pete is...) and it was fascinating to watch him grow from a delicate nymph to a beautiful adult.
One of my friends joined me in the museum with the same job of looking after the animals. We decided to get 2 pet mantids of our own and ended up ordering 2 Creobroter gemmatus nymphs from Virginia Cheeseman. She sent us a third as well, I think this was in case one died. I took the biggest home with me, my friend went for the medium sized one and we left the tiniest one (Wee Thomas) in the museum. All were handled every day, with the hope that Wee Thomas could have a close relationship with young museum visitors, wheras Pete was always kept at a distance because he's not used to being handled.
We began to notice that Thomas was growing at an extortionate rate. Soon he was twice as big as Wangi? (my mantid). He also was a lot more frisky, running up and down my arm whereas Wangi? would just sit on my hand and clean his legs. Thomas even jumped onto the head of a lecturer I was showing him to! He leaps about and gets everywhere, it's a lot of fun.
I realised that it was probably the temperature that was making him so full of beans whilst the other two mantids wre still so small and not very active. My flat has begun to form icicles on the inside of the windows, wheras the museum is warm enough to make a camel feel at home. We decided that perhaps our two mantids could come into the museum to live, at least until we went to stay with our parents for Christmas. Unforutnately my friend's mantid died a couple of days ago at just over a centimetre in length, so he has adopted Wee Thomas as his own. Wangi? has picked up a lot in character and begun eating a lot more Drosophila. (We get them from the genetics department - they have all sorts of crazy mutations and it's always interesting to see what flies they have given us this time...)
I love all invertebrates, reptiles and especially birds. Mammals aren't so much a thing of mine although I still like spending time with them and studying them. I rescued a zebra spider from someone who had had him thrown onto their shoulder by a passing group of Non Educated Delinquents (neds). He's very friendly. I also have just started collecting and pinning dead bugs, in the past I used to have a lot of pets although since becoming a student it's a lot more difficult to keep the bigger animals.
I have come here to learn more about my favourite insects the mantids: when I have graduated I'd love to have more but Wangi? is my first mantid that I have kept myself. Certainly my children will have them rather than goldfish or hamsters, I think they are excellent pets for kids because they are so active and interesting. Every time there is a particularly interested child in the museum I take them to Pete and show them him eating a cricket. They always find it pretty amazing and surprising that an insect can be so fast...!
I volunteer in a zoology museum, in which are many live exhibits - some with four legs, most with more legs, and a handful with no legs at all!
My favourite of all the animals are the mantids. I always liked them since being a little girl, but they were never my favourite insects until now. I met Pete the Rhombodera basalis (last year's mantid in the museum) in my first year there and loved the way that he would watch me, and the way he hunted and ate. He wasn't used to people hanling him so I didn't. He died at the ripe old age of 1 and was replaced by another R. basalis named Pete (they have to keep the names the same because we get a lot of school children and sometimes they ask how Pete is...) and it was fascinating to watch him grow from a delicate nymph to a beautiful adult.
One of my friends joined me in the museum with the same job of looking after the animals. We decided to get 2 pet mantids of our own and ended up ordering 2 Creobroter gemmatus nymphs from Virginia Cheeseman. She sent us a third as well, I think this was in case one died. I took the biggest home with me, my friend went for the medium sized one and we left the tiniest one (Wee Thomas) in the museum. All were handled every day, with the hope that Wee Thomas could have a close relationship with young museum visitors, wheras Pete was always kept at a distance because he's not used to being handled.
We began to notice that Thomas was growing at an extortionate rate. Soon he was twice as big as Wangi? (my mantid). He also was a lot more frisky, running up and down my arm whereas Wangi? would just sit on my hand and clean his legs. Thomas even jumped onto the head of a lecturer I was showing him to! He leaps about and gets everywhere, it's a lot of fun.
I realised that it was probably the temperature that was making him so full of beans whilst the other two mantids wre still so small and not very active. My flat has begun to form icicles on the inside of the windows, wheras the museum is warm enough to make a camel feel at home. We decided that perhaps our two mantids could come into the museum to live, at least until we went to stay with our parents for Christmas. Unforutnately my friend's mantid died a couple of days ago at just over a centimetre in length, so he has adopted Wee Thomas as his own. Wangi? has picked up a lot in character and begun eating a lot more Drosophila. (We get them from the genetics department - they have all sorts of crazy mutations and it's always interesting to see what flies they have given us this time...)
I love all invertebrates, reptiles and especially birds. Mammals aren't so much a thing of mine although I still like spending time with them and studying them. I rescued a zebra spider from someone who had had him thrown onto their shoulder by a passing group of Non Educated Delinquents (neds). He's very friendly. I also have just started collecting and pinning dead bugs, in the past I used to have a lot of pets although since becoming a student it's a lot more difficult to keep the bigger animals.
I have come here to learn more about my favourite insects the mantids: when I have graduated I'd love to have more but Wangi? is my first mantid that I have kept myself. Certainly my children will have them rather than goldfish or hamsters, I think they are excellent pets for kids because they are so active and interesting. Every time there is a particularly interested child in the museum I take them to Pete and show them him eating a cricket. They always find it pretty amazing and surprising that an insect can be so fast...!
Great story! 
