Hi

[mrskatix]

Hello

After being advised by a few helpful people I've finally decided to stop lurking and start actually posting. Some of you already know my husband (Soundspawn) so you've probably already at least heard of me (I'm the one who actually gets to feed and breed our creepy friends) Anyway Hi !

 

[LAME]

Welcome to the forum mrskatix. =p

 

[mrskatix]

Thanks

 

[dmina]

Glad to see you here.. now that hubby has not been around much anymore... Must have moved on to a bigger, better hobby?

"Creepy friends"... come on now... I know you better then that... You give them lots of TLC!

 

[mrskatix]

Lol yes he kinda has, I bought him a 3d printer for Christmas......needless to say....he is keeping himself busy, well that and working and gaming, and playing with kids etc

And yeah "creepy" might not be the best word for them but come on......whats a better word for mantids who dance like this????

Which I gotta say I love the vids precarious

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello again - glad to meet the person that is in charge of their care If you have 50 of a species you must be serious that breed or had a ooth hatch recently.

 

[mrskatix]

Well I actually have 3 species with really high numbers (out of about 30 species total) one species is the P. agrionina I was one of the lucky ones that bought the like "ten pack" although unlike many others about 3-4 ooth actually hatched (the rest had the parasite wasps), I sold about 80% but still have about 40 some. And the other two species I have high numbers of, were, if memory servers correctly, out of two ooths, I also tend to separate my nymphs around L2, so I have very few fatalities, although I do it more to log each individual molt date (which makes it easier to know if I can or can not ship or if the mantis not eating is reason to worry. Oh wait make that 4 my pnigomantis medioconstricta hatched like a week ago so I have like 100 or so of them as well.

 

[CosbyArt]

Amazing amount of species for sure and sheer numbers. I thought having a few mantises were enough to keep me busy, and now with my recent ooths hatching have been more than busy enough - let alone your collection.

Yeah the parasitic wasps are a pain the #$!, but even if a ooth has them there are still mantises that will hatch from those ooths (at least in my experience). I've had two ooths infected with the wasps that I collected from the wild. Both hatches combined are just short of 100 Stagmomantis carolina's, and hatched recently (4th and 6th). I kill the wasps as they hatch and transfer the mantis nymphs to another habitat.

I was hoping to sort my nymphs at L2 but even in a large enclosure their numbers are dwindling, cannibalism maybe(?), so I am working at putting them into individual cups for now.

Well congrats on your new hatches, and sounds like some excellent mantis husbandry to keep and care for such a collection.

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

welcome to the forum!

 

[hibiscusmile]

welcome

 

[MantisMan223]

Welcome