Hello from Texas

[Austin Byers]

I have previously been taking care of giant millipedes and a few other things, but i got obsessed with mantises. 

I spent way too much and got a 12x12x18 and some air plants as well as 3 l2/l3 ghost mantis. I haven't finished setting up the terrarium yet since I haven't found the hot glue gun to mount the air plants, but I have living moss in the bottom and they just hang out on the top screen anyway. I'm misting them everyday to keep the humidity up and I have high humidity air plants so I'm hoping things turn out well and I might get a green one. and past that I might get some ooths

 

[Mantidaddicted]

Welcome! Nice setup! I love Ghosts! Hopefully you do get a green one, that would be awesome!

 

[Austin Byers]

the flightless flies don't climb to the top where the ghost mantis hang out so I'm hoping they will actually at least venture down to get some food if they are hungry. I'm worried that maybe I should have gotten a smaller tank for them

here are the air plants i got

 

[Sarah K]

the flightless flies don't climb to the top where the ghost mantis hang out so I'm hoping they will actually at least venture down to get some food if they are hungry. I'm worried that maybe I should have gotten a smaller tank for them

here are the air plants i got

View attachment 7678

Hey Austin,

I too worry about the same thing with my nymphs. Especially the ghosts, because they really don't move around much! I would suggest (just to be on the safe side) to keep them in something smaller and simpler (closer to the size of a 32 oz deli cup), for a few more molts until they start eating house flies. Once they start eating house flies, then you can move them back to the larger enclosure that you've worked so hard on!

 

[Sarah K]

oh, and welcome tot he forums!

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello Austin and welcome to the forum

Looks like it will be a great setup. Indeed feeding can be a issue with large tanks. The most common trick is to move the mantids to a smaller container when you feed them, and then move them back to their tank afterwards. To avoid moving the mantids back and forth, some keepers pour in more feeders to ensure they are found; however, that doesn't seem to solve the issue very well even then.

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[Descartes]

Nice terrarium! Where did you get your air plants?

 

[Anaxi]

Welcome! I love the look of Ghosts, plan to get some of my own one day. Nice Terrarium!

 

[hibiscusmile]

The ghost u have in there are certainly big enough it looks like to eat stable or house flies, go with the flying ones. Or, what instar are they/ they look like 4th

 

[ashleenicole]

Welcome! Your setup looks lovely with the live plants! 

 

[Austin Byers]

they are l2 or l3 I thnk maybe l2 because I just had one molt. I got the air plants off of amazon in a package deal for larger specimens. i've added more to my tank now. I've been watching my mantis eat, I've kept a bannana in the tank to breed local flies and its doing pretty well and they seem to be catching flies here and there.