Hello Mantis Team!

TheShadyMantid · Jan 29, 2018

Hello guys and gals. My name is Andy and I wanted to introduce and explain a little about myself, and share with you the story of what has become my obsession over the last year, mantids! It started as a long time fascination with these creatures, partly because I had never been able to find one in the wild. After considering it for years I finally bought one online, and it sort of started a chain reaction. Shortly after, my friend brought me an adult Chinese mantis that he had found outside. Well, she turned out to be pregnant and laid 4 ootheca, 3 of which hatched, and to my amazement I was knee deep in nymphs. Luckily I had already started cultivating fruit flies and had prepared lots of small deli cups. Anyway, I am now miles down the path of no return so to speak, and have begun collecting as many mantids as possible for breeding/personal obsession purposes. I have 5 different species currently, and am now even breeding dubia roaches and super worms. Go figure.

I've started a company called The Shady Mantid, and I'll post more about that with a link in the buy/sell section.

I hope to further my knowledge as much as possible and get to know all you fellow mantid lovers.

Thanks for reading and see you all around.

Andy

Serle · Jan 29, 2018

hy , greetings & welcome to the land of the obsessed .............. S

TheShadyMantid · Jan 29, 2018

Thanks Serle, I feel at home already =)

CosbyArt · Jan 29, 2018

Hello Andy and welcome to the forum

Sounds like you have your hands full too. Between feeders and similar pets many of us tend to have invertebrate zoos.

Finding mantids can be challenging at first, much like finding morel mushrooms. I know when I first started collecting them I couldn't find them anywhere, and now I tend to find them or their ooths without much effort. See below for help