Hi, from New England, USA

[Phantom]

My name is Dave and my hobby is carnivorous plants. I have always been fascinated by mantids, but I have never kept them before. There are many people I have met in my hobby who also like mantids.

I have thought about raising some mantids, and I have spent some time lurking on this site, and others, to determine the proper requirements. I live in Massachusetts, USA and I recently saw a few different native mantid species this past summer while going on bog walks.

I belong to a club called the New England Carnivorous Plant Society (www.necps.org) where carnivorous plant people get together to discuss carnivorous plants as a hobby. We have our 4th annual show coming up in September, and I would like to have at least one mantid, in a safe terrarium, for an educational display.

 

[robo mantis]

Welcome man i have a few carnivorus plants myself. I got a pitcher plant, a venus fly trap, venus fly trap seeds, and i have a venus fly trap i raised from seed it germinated about a week ago .

 

[Jodokohajjio]

This goes without saying, but you'd better not decorate the mantis tank with your plants! :shock:

 

[Ian]

Welcome to the forum Dave

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[Phantom]

Thanks for welcome.

This goes without saying, but you'd better not decorate the mantis tank with your plants! :shock:

The thought did cross my mind of plant vs prey insects against mantis vs prey insects.

I am planning to mix the two eventually, but only with tropical pitcher plants (nepenthes) that have traps that are too small to capture any mantids that I keep.

 

[robo mantis]

Remember baby mantids can be smaller than a mosquito.

 

[Phantom]

Remember baby mantids can be smaller than a mosquito.

Yes, they do start out small; thanks for your concern. I only planning to move them to a carnivorous plant terrarium once they are big enough to not get trapped. I have plenty of non-killing plants as well.

 

[robo mantis]

lol good. this is just a guess but won't the plants steal the mantids food? or will the plants eat to much and die. just a few concerns

 

[Phantom]

lol good. this is just a guess but won't the plants steal the mantids food? or will the plants eat to much and die. just a few concerns

I mainly hand feed my nepenthes fish food for nutrients. It is possible that certain prey insects could be consumed by the plant first, but I would watch to make sure the mantis was properly fed.

The plant cannot overeat. If a pitcher gets too full, it just dies early, but the plant will continue to grow and put out new pitchers.

 

[robo mantis]

Oh ok

 

[hibiscusmile]

:lol: Glad to see you! I have always wanted a man eating plant! opps, I mean a meat eating plant! Never had one though! My son just got one around Christmas and tease me about it. Hummm... have fun