Hi everyone! Reptile home gone Mantis crazy!

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Jenphilly

Active member
Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
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Location
Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania
Hi everyone! 

We are a longtime reptile (snake and lizards) family.   My daughter is an avid spider and tarantula hobbyist too....  spiders have not captured my interest but we fell into Mantis care and I forgot how much I loved Mantis as a kid! Still getting our feet wet....  Chinese and Ghost now with Asian Flower and Giant Shields on the way.... possibly pantherina too! 

Look forward to learning about everyone and your Mantis collection!! We are also a parrot home, my beloved boy is a blue and gold macaw, Max, who is turning 31 this year! 

 
Welcome to the forum! We'd love to hear more about all your critters! 

- MantisGirl13 

 
Thank you all for the welcome!  We have a bit of an array of stranger critters in our home....  We have had snakes for almost 20 years.  My daughter had bearded dragons first, I was not too keen on having snakes in the home, but she talked me into a blue tongue skink and I fell in love with what an awesome lizard Robin was (she was half puppy and half lizard I swear).  Everyone joked she was brilliant, it was just a natural step from blue tongue skink to snake :)   Fast forward way too many years and now she has some awesome lines of boas, a couple interested ball python projects and some great Chinese Beauty lines.  She also has some strictly pet snakes, a couple large reticulated pythons and her first large snakes is a Boat Constrictor Imperator (a normal boa) that I jokingly called Lucky when she was a tiny little baby because my daughter was lucky to be getting a snake that would get big, and 17 years later, Lucky is still with us and gotten to be a big big girl.  My daughter has also gotten in spider / tarantula hobby keeping....  funniest thing is that I cannot get onboard with her spiders, tho they are cool to look at and I've gotten a few videos for her when she was feeding, but no real interest....  We kinda fell into Mantis keeping with an ooth that showed up on our Xmas tree.  It was ironic because I have had a lifelong love affair with Mantis that started when I was a little girl, my grandfather would have one from his tomato garden for me about everytime we would go down to visit.  He would have one in a jar or under a basket, he would put it on my shoulder or in my shirt, the Mantis would hang out with me all day and I would put him back in the garden before we left.  Was a memory I had about forgotten until I saw the mantis babies.  My daughter is having a great time laughing at me with being all excited and interested in Mantis, we are talking about making the one wall in the kitchen / dining area for just my Mantis obsession :)  

My other person interesting critter is my Max, a 31 year old blue and gold macaw that adopted me when I was a volunteer at a large parrot rescue almost 6 years ago.  He is my best buddy, follows me around like a puppy most of the time.  I never wanted a big parrot, but he decided one day I was his mom and seems he was right!  I live with Multiple Sclerosis, Max is like having a toddler in the home, so he is the main reason some days that I know I need to get my butt up and moving but things hurt...  he is out and about with me everyday usually 8-10 hours, so he keeps me going!  You don't want me to start talking Max, I am literally like a mom with cute baby pics and videos, I will babble on and on about him :)

The only critter in our family is Chip, an American Quarter Horse that will be 21 years old this April, he has been with our family since just before his 4th birthday.  He has been my daughter's best friend in life, awesome horse!  We have been dealing with alot of hoof issues with him, but he has been such a big part of the family that we refuse to give up on finding a way to keep him sound and pain free. 

I won't go on and on too much!!  But if anyone has questions about any of our critters, just ask!!   Few random pics...  Chip and Max of course!  A baby pic of Cleo (one of the favorite snakes in the home) and a recent pic of how big she is these days!  cleo 1.jpg

chip 5.jpg

max cuddle.jpg

cleo 2.jpg

 
Wow. I envy your family! I'm a teen, and I love all kinds of critters, I started with mantids, now I'm getting into spiders and lizards, as well as frogs. My parents are slowly giving up on pet limits. Lol

I've always wanted a bird, but my dad's allergic. 

- MantisGirl13 

 
I’m so jealous!! I’ve always wanted a blue tongue skink! My neighbors have horses so it’s like I own them too! Yeah, me being a teen who is pretty new to the hobby I was lucky just to get a tarantula! I now have a few mantids, some true spiders, a tarantula, and some Jerusalem crickets.

 
Wow. I envy your family! I'm a teen, and I love all kinds of critters, I started with mantids, now I'm getting into spiders and lizards, as well as frogs. My parents are slowly giving up on pet limits. Lol

I've always wanted a bird, but my dad's allergic. 

- MantisGirl13 


My daughter started with more 'normal' exotics like the beardie and just methodically worked into getting me hooked on the reptiles!  20 years ago I would have told anyone they were crazy if they said one day I would post on Facebook a pic of a snake snuggled into my boot for warmth and I would joke I was hanging out with the 'grandkids' :)    Give your parents time, as they see your commitment and love for your critters, you never know what might show up in your home! 

What is your dad allergic to with parrots?  Is it the dust that some parrots produce....  tho your dad might reach thru the computer and smack me, not all parrots produce that dusty dander, much like spiders, there are old world and new world parrots...  one is dusty, the other are 'oily'....   I was an Adoption Coordinator for a large parrot rescue for 4 years, if your dad is open to learning about possibilities that might work for you, there are a few parrot rescues not terribly far from you....  but have to warn you, as much as parrots seem awesome to live with, they are really really high maintenance and very demanding, especially the bigger guys.  To keep a macaw happy and healthy, they need to be out and interacting with their 'flock' for quite a few hours everyday...  my Max is out literally everyday for 8 to 10 hours everyday.  I joke if you are not ready to have a child, a large parrot is not a great choice, a macaw is like the most intelligent toddler you will ever meet with problem solving skills that are really quite impressive, but makes them such a pain in the butt sometimes!  There are some awesome smaller birds with huge personalities in small bodies (like sun conures, one of my favorites, we have one too, awesome birds!).  Anyway, I am babbling on, apologies! 

Awesome to hear you found some new critters at the show, sounds like you had a much better showing than we did!  If you are interested in more Mantids, I can let you know if my daughter's contact can get his hands on anything to bring to the Hamburg show later this month!  

Video of the blue brat not waiting for anyone to give him a treat... 




 
Ya, my dad's allergic to the saliva, and when the bird (or any animal, he's allergic to everything with fur or feathers, even 'hypoallergenic' ones) grooms itself, the saliva gets onto the feathers, dries, and flakes off. 

I'm glad I got what I did at the expo! Thanks so much for mentioning it, if you hadn't I wouldn't have known about it! What time did you get there? We got into the building at about 9:30. There was quite the line!

- MantisGirl13 

 
Ya, my dad's allergic to the saliva, and when the bird (or any animal, he's allergic to everything with fur or feathers, even 'hypoallergenic' ones) grooms itself, the saliva gets onto the feathers, dries, and flakes off. 

I'm glad I got what I did at the expo! Thanks so much for mentioning it, if you hadn't I wouldn't have known about it! What time did you get there? We got into the building at about 9:30. There was quite the line!

- MantisGirl13 


Oh heck you got there way earlier than us! We got there 1130 or so.  Line was still down to the end but did not wrap around the side.  Any plans for Hamburg? 

 
I can't really make plans, since I'm not old enough to drive yet and I have a lot of younger siblings who make it hard to get places. Hopefully I can go sometime though!

- MantisGirl13 

 
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