Hello from Switzerland :)

[perrutzky]

Hey everyone,

my name is Michelle, I'm 22 years old and come from Zurich, Switzerland.
I'm "new" to keeping mantids, means, I brought my 4 Hierodula membranacea from L1 to adulthood and I'm planning to breed them as soon as possible.
I will probably get more insects soon, beetles or leaf insects mainly.

I'm looking forward to reading through your posts and I hope I can learn more about these fascinating creatures.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Michelle

 

[LAME]

Welcome!

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[CosbyArt]

Greeting Michelle and welcome to the forum

Congratulations on getting your 4 mantids to adulthood, it can be a task at times no matter how many you have. I'm curious as you have four and want to breed them, do you have 2 males and 2 females or?

I see in your one photo a habitat with ventilation holes that appear to have been made with a heated wire (or a drill). So you must be a do it yourself'er and I'm looking forwarded to your posts.

 

[rbird]

Welcome Michelle,

Cool green alien you have there.

Just curious, how did you get your mantids in Zurich? Pet shop? Friends? EU? Bug fest?

Are any mantids indigenous to Switzerland?

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[sally]

Welcome

 

[perrutzky]

Greeting Michelle and welcome to the forum

Congratulations on getting your 4 mantids to adulthood, it can be a task at times no matter how many you have. I'm curious as you have four and want to breed them, do you have 2 males and 2 females or?

I see in your one photo a habitat with ventilation holes that appear to have been made with a heated wire (or a drill). So you must be a do it yourself'er and I'm looking forwarded to your posts.

Thank you very much!

Well, good point. I have 3 girls and only one male. I additionally ordered two subadult males - they got to me today, unfortunately the breeder sent me L5 and no subadults, which will make the breeding rather difficult.

Yes, I really used heated nails, after my carpet knife broke..

I used the knife to cut holes in the lid and then I glued a mesh kind of fabric over the holes. You see, lots of creativity for my creatures!

 

[perrutzky]

Welcome Michelle,

Cool green alien you have there.

Just curious, how did you get your mantids in Zurich? Pet shop? Friends? EU? Bug fest?

Are any mantids indigenous to Switzerland?

Thanks a lot!

I found a breeder near me. Thanks to the world wide web!

You can also get them from pet shops here, but I don't trust them too much.

There's going to be an "insect market" where I'm going to, soon.

As far as I know, there are no indigenous mantids in Switzerland.

There are mantis religiosa around us (italy, germany I think), but they are protected, so we can't keep them..

 

[CosbyArt]

Thank you very much!

Well, good point. I have 3 girls and only one male. I additionally ordered two subadult males - they got to me today, unfortunately the breeder sent me L5 and no subadults, which will make the breeding rather difficult.

Yes, I really used heated nails, after my carpet knife broke..

I used the knife to cut holes in the lid and then I glued a mesh kind of fabric over the holes. You see, lots of creativity for my creatures!

Looks like you male better be lucky as he has 3 girls to see. Indeed it does, best of luck, perhaps you can get some more males from the "insect market".

...
As far as I know, there are no indigenous mantids in Switzerland.

There are mantis religiosa around us (italy, germany I think), but they are protected, so we can't keep them..

Too bad, as it is a unique experience to collect mantids in the wild (perhaps a holiday is in order).

I would have figured there would be so many of the religiosa around that it would be no problem to get some. I'm curious though why are they protected (endangered population, or what)?

 

[rbird]

There's going to be an "insect market" where I'm going to, soon.

There are mantis religiosa around us (italy, germany I think), but they are protected, so we can't keep them..

Michelle,

Please post pics of the "insect market" when you get there!

No religiosa' but you can get a Giant Asian mantis? is it feared to become an invasive species or are they losing populations?

We even have mantis religiosa invading the US > "Despite being an introduced species, it is the official state insect of Connecticut.[1]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_mantis

Tim

 

[perrutzky]

Looks like you male better be lucky as he has 3 girls to see. Indeed it does, best of luck, perhaps you can get some more males from the "insect market".

Too bad, as it is a unique experience to collect mantids in the wild (perhaps a holiday is in order).

I would have figured there would be so many of the religiosa around that it would be no problem to get some. I'm curious though why are they protected (endangered population, or what)?

It is an endangered species, not that many left..which is a shame!

 

[CosbyArt]

It is an endangered species, not that many left..which is a shame!

That is a shame. The species is said to be around here but I have yet to find any.

I am curious of the insect market too, let us know what you get.

 

[perrutzky]

Michelle,

Please post pics of the "insect market" when you get there!

No religiosa' but you can get a Giant Asian mantis? is it feared to become an invasive species or are they losing populations?

We even have mantis religiosa invading the US > "Despite being an introduced species, it is the official state insect of Connecticut.[1]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_mantis

Tim

As i said, they are losing populations, it's forbidden to collect/keep/kill mantis religiosa. If you do, you have to pay money as punishment..

You can get Asian mantids, orchid mantids and gongylus gongyledes from pet stores though.

And I will definitely take pictures!

Maybe I can get a rhino bug or a leaf insect, which would be fun!

(www.terra-typica.ch)

I think it's funny that the european mantis is the state insect of Connecticut.

 

[dmina]