Hello fellow mantis lovers!
I'm a college student from St. Louis, MO, USA. This is my second year raising mantids, so I consider myself relatively new to the hobby. My first mantis found his way into my apartment somehow in late September of 2015 - my girlfriend (who had raised Tenoderas before) noticed him clinging to a root beer bottle after a night on the patio. We named him "Virgil" after the brand of root beer and scrambled to get an enclosure for him. Unfortunately, Virgil only lived about two more weeks after that and died in early October. We never knew for sure what species he was, though based on our memory of his appearance, we think he was probably S. carolina. Even though our time with Virgil was brief, I was mesmerized by just how much personality a mantis could have. I was hooked.
The two of us got engaged and we raised a Tenodera sinensis ootheca together last year - releasing most of the nymphs and keeping three to adulthood.
This year, we wanted to try some more exotic species, so we got a thistle and three ghost nymphs at L2. Things are currently going very well with them - the thistle reached adulthood last week and the first of the three ghosts successfully molted to adult last night (I'm very excited)!
It's good to be here!
I'm a college student from St. Louis, MO, USA. This is my second year raising mantids, so I consider myself relatively new to the hobby. My first mantis found his way into my apartment somehow in late September of 2015 - my girlfriend (who had raised Tenoderas before) noticed him clinging to a root beer bottle after a night on the patio. We named him "Virgil" after the brand of root beer and scrambled to get an enclosure for him. Unfortunately, Virgil only lived about two more weeks after that and died in early October. We never knew for sure what species he was, though based on our memory of his appearance, we think he was probably S. carolina. Even though our time with Virgil was brief, I was mesmerized by just how much personality a mantis could have. I was hooked.
The two of us got engaged and we raised a Tenodera sinensis ootheca together last year - releasing most of the nymphs and keeping three to adulthood.
This year, we wanted to try some more exotic species, so we got a thistle and three ghost nymphs at L2. Things are currently going very well with them - the thistle reached adulthood last week and the first of the three ghosts successfully molted to adult last night (I'm very excited)!
It's good to be here!
