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GingerC

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Dec 16, 2016
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  My little brother decided he wanted a pet praying mantis, so we researched together for about two months, until my dad and I decided to surprise him for Christmas. We got a pair of L3ish giant Asian nymphs from bugsincyberspace.com, and we're really enjoying them. He decided that one would be his and one would be mine, and so since he named his own mantis Snatcher, I decided to call mine George.

  It's not really clear what instar they're at, though. They were supposed to be L3 nymphs, but George was one moult ahead of Snatcher, at first. Either Snatcher was an L2 or George was an L4. I guess we'll find out for sure when they grow up. :p

  Anyway, if anyone's curious about me (this is an introduction, after all!) I'm an animal lover firmly of the opinion that no one is truly an animal lover if they can't stand anything with more than four legs. I'm also a massive "perfectionist" (aka extremely nitpicky) and an online schooler. When I was in first grade, I had about 300 pets- 100 of them being the neighborhood flock of pigeons, which my sister and I had hand tamed and fed every day, and 200 of them were baby cellar spiders that we'd bred accidentally, as well as a mix of earwigs, isopods, and earthworms. I forgot about arthropods for a while after that, but then I rediscovered my fascination with them because my brother wanted a mantis. And now I'm itching to buy myself a ton of other bugs- jumping spiders, emperor scorpions, and more mantids being high on the list. And, well, I suppose a vinegaroon couldn't hurt, could it? :D

 
HI WELCOME YOU SOUND AWESOME lol I wish there was someone like you at my school we would get along great! None of the other kids at my school love bugs as I do. So cool that you and your brother do it together (my sister is scared of bugs) I'm fairly new as well don't be afraid to ask questions from the forum leaders Cosbyart will always answer your questions.

 
Hello Ginger and welcome to the forum
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Seems you've kept yourself quite busy with various pets, and have a list of new ones to try. I myself keep busy with my various mantids, my jumping spiders (Phidippus audax, Platycryptus Undatus, and Salticus scenicus), a tarantula (ID unknown), a vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus giganteus), isopods, wolf spiders (Tigrosa helluo and Pardosa sp.), and assorted feeders and other pets I never posted about. ;) So no worries there, most of us tend to have a exotic zoo. :D

For mantids the two most popular and largest sites are BugsInCyberspace and MantisPlace. A newer site with rave reviews is PanTerra Pets. Peter at BugsInCyberspace also sells Vinegaroons, and where I got mine. Jumping spiders though are a more seasonal available pet (again Peter offers them too, but only during the warmer months), I just collect mine outside in the warmer months; however, one site to try that I can recommend to try would be KenTheBugGuy.

My bold jumping spider mother (Phidippus audax) Daisy laid another batch of eggs which should be hatching soon (she is out of her nest most of the time now, as she did when the last batch hatched). So if you want to wait about a month I'd be happy to ship you some of her young for the cost of shipping, that is if you can't find any sooner. :)

 
@Lalaland Yeah, it's honestly kind of a big pet peeve of mine when people who call themselves "animal lovers" also say that "the only good spider is a dead spider". I just cannot relate to people with such an arrow viewpoint, at all.

  My brother is mostly interested in astronomy and technology, but doesn't really care for animals, so it's pretty cool that he can get into bugs, too. :D  My older sister (the one I did pigeons with) also raised cellar spiders with me, but when I told her we were getting mantids, she thought it was gross.

@CosbyArt

  Well, I haven't had many pets in the past fourish years (other than bettas, which I quit because they need SO MANY NUMBERS) so I haven't exactly been busy, heh. I do have a missing sector orbweaver on top of the mantids, though!

  I've been prepared to wait until it gets warm out to order some jumping spiders, so I'll definitely have to see if I can take you up on that offer! :D In the meantime, do you have any tips on their care? I've read a few sheets, but they were written for people who are already knowledgeable on "phids". 

 
GingerC said:
@Lalaland Yeah, it's honestly kind of a big pet peeve of mine when people who call themselves "animal lovers" also say that "the only good spider is a dead spider". I just cannot relate to people with such an arrow viewpoint, at all.

  My brother is mostly interested in astronomy and technology, but doesn't really care for animals, so it's pretty cool that he can get into bugs, too. :D  My older sister (the one I did pigeons with) also raised cellar spiders with me, but when I told her we were getting mantids, she thought it was gross.

@CosbyArt

  Well, I haven't had many pets in the past fourish years (other than bettas, which I quit because they need SO MANY NUMBERS) so I haven't exactly been busy, heh. I do have a missing sector orbweaver on top of the mantids, though!

  I've been prepared to wait until it gets warm out to order some jumping spiders, so I'll definitely have to see if I can take you up on that offer! :D In the meantime, do you have any tips on their care? I've read a few sheets, but they were written for people who are already knowledgeable on "phids". 
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Yes most animal lovers should be called mammal lovers at best.

Ah okay, so your starting again from the ground up with pets. No problem there and many species to choose from as well. Very nice, I always wanted to try a orbweaver but don't due to their larger habitat requirements and typically precise humidity levels for their web.

Weather is a strange thing for shipping live animals. During the mid/late spring and mid/late fall is the best, but is such a narrow window to order for. I find winter is fine if there are no delays, a heat pack and a bit of insulation keeps them warm. Summer can be awful as they can easily cook, even with a cold pack.

For care I list my details below, but also found this care sheet and some tips on the Arachnoboards (a great forum I'm on too, for many more arachnid keepers help).

Sure, I'll try to remember to send you a note, if not just watch for my forum post about the babies. ;) Care is easy for jumping spiders, I keep them the same as basic mantid care. I mist their habitats every few days typically (they do not require much humidity it seems).

The newly hatched slings do okay with small prey like springtails or scavenging fresh dead/killed fruit flies/crickets. As they age I feed them Melanogaster FF for a few instars, then move up to Hydei FF for awhile and pinhead crickets. I continue to give them Hydei FF off and on, they enjoy them, and mix in some small enough crickets. Once closer to adulthood and as adults they do well with houseflies. The adults love bottle flies, small moths (wax moths are easy to culture for them), and appropriate sized crickets.

I tend to feed mine every few days, but read some say to feed them much less. So far I've had no problems though and most are pigs when it comes to eating, and the flies don't live long enough to pester them anyway if they don't eat.

Housing wise I keep them in 9oz nymph cups until adults, but use the fine mesh organza fabric (or similar fabric mesh) for the top mesh to keep them and the fruit flies in. I add 3/4" of sphagnum peat moss for substrate, some leaves and bark on the substrate for hiding places, and a stick or two for vertical perches. One thing I highly recommend is a feeding hole about half way up/down the side, as it prevents destroying their nests (usually made along the top) and makes feeding easier.

For my adults I move them to larger habitats, 1 quart sized, setup like the nymph cups (but I find they like fake flowers on the sticks too). This includes using the fine organza fabric, as it will keep any newly hatched babies in the habitat. Often the adults hide or hunt from the silk flowers, and a few will build a nest from one. Overall the larger habitat gives them room to explore, still find their prey, and gives the mothers room to escape their babies a bit when wanted. :)

 
Hey! Welcome to the forum, there is a library of mantis knowledge here and many reliable sources for any inquiries during your time in the hobby! I wish you the best :)  

 

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