Hi there.

[BearPhomet]

Hi y'all. I used to be on here a long, long time ago, under the name Zoe. Well, I'm back! Again. I couldn't stay away from these sweet buggies for long. 

I return to the hobby by purchasing from mantid kingdom, I understand they are on the forums as well (real great shop. I'm very happy), I got C gemmatus x 3 and one B mendica. 

They sure are cute. As you can see, their cups are kind of bare right now. Dried basil twigs for climbing. Tomorrow I'm going to the local pet store, where I got my fruit fly culture (flying d Mel's for $20, uuuuugh) and getting some exelcior stuff. 

Oh, would it be okay if I got like, coco husk and put like a half inch layer on the bottom of the deli cups? To anchor the twigs? Or would that be too much humidity? 

Thanks y'all. 

 

[Aristalochia]

Hey there BearPhomet, cute mantids. I do the damp cocohusk in most of my mantid cups, however I think the medica prefer very low humidity so you may not want to keep them too moist.

 

[Rick]

Welcome back Zoe. 

We prefer you not make a new account. Do you have the login info for your old account? 

 

[BearPhomet]

@Rick I sure don't, I have absolutely no idea what email it would be under either. 

 

[Rick]

@Rick I sure don't, I have absolutely no idea what email it would be under either. 

Surely you have some idea. What was your old username? Peter can probably get you back in. 

 

[hibiscusmile]

Welcome back

 

[Serle]

Hy & Welcome ....... S

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Seems Rick already covered the old account, and indeed Peter is the one to talk to.

That is some crazy pricing on fruit flies, hopefully they have better prices on other things. Sure coconut husk and related (coconut fiber, coir, plantation soil, etc) are great for padding for possible falls, overall natural look, easy cleaning, and such too.

Coconut does absorb water and release it slowly; however, unless you really mist/water the coconut until it is holding water, it will not affect humidity. For twigs you could add just a small drop of hot glue to hold them in place as well.

For my habitats I use ground sphagnum peat moss anymore as it is so much cheaper than coconut ($10 for a large compressed bale at the nearby hardware store Lowes, versus about $300 in coconut from the pet store). After a year of using it the only downsides I have found is when wetting a habitat it takes longer to soak into (water will stand for awhile), and if kept too damp (water logged) mold forms easier than with coconut. Both of which are not a problem in actual use though with any habitats as I don't add much water to the moss after the initial setup.