Hiya everyone!

ZenViouS · Dec 30, 2011

Hey guys and gals, my name's Zach and I love everything science. I'm 17 and I'm also a self proclaimed scientist. I live in Florida (around St. Petersburg). I also love praying mantids, as they are my favorite insect, though I cannot remember how I came to first learn about them. It all started when I was 11 and got my first couple mantids (at that time I didn't quite realize that there were nearly 2 thousand species and just thought that the ones my family got me off ebay were THE praying mantises, the only type) which were 2 females and a male as I remember it. The male was the first to go as when I bred them, one of the girlies ate him (though he was still able to mate with her!) then one female died because I was young and didn't realize that the direct sunlight from leaving them on my windowsill all day was lethal, then the other one died from old age as I remember it. The mated female gave me a few ooths and 2 of them hatched. Well, I didn't realize that you couldn't really anticipate when the nymphs would be arriving and thus all the fruit flies I bought died before the nymphs hatched... I didn't have anything to feed them

. Then, 2-3 years ago I got a pre-mated female off of Ebay again and I had the bring idea to put her in a "feeding" container with 20-30 crickets running around because I didn't think she was eating the few I was putting in her cage. In there, as well, I placed a small logs which she rolled over on top of herself right when I walked away. I know now that she was probably sick and I should have tried feeding her cricket guts on a toothpick or small crickets by hand... Then we get to today. I currently have 6 Chinese ooths (4 of which have hatched) 1 european ooth, and 1 unknown (probably another one of the other 2). I've been cultivating my own D. Melanogaster for months and just ordered 5 cultures of D. Hydei. I plan on getting many more feeder insects to keep and breed for my own enjoyment (and to feed to the mantises) just as I am with the mantises. I am really looking to expand the different species that I have at the moment and would like for anyone with oothecas to either pm me with what they have or drop a reply in here saying that they do have some for sale and I'll pm you

. Well, that's it. It's really great to finally be a part of a community that appreciates life, bugs, and insects as much as I do. I know a lot of facts but I can't wait to learn all the first-hand-experience info from everyone that uses this website. Hope to see y'all on the forum!

Many thanks,

Zach