How to make CRITTER CAGES work for your mantis!

[GreenBean]

I posted this in another forum as a response to someone, but perhaps it better belongs here:

Here's an idea for your "Critter Cage": I have tried various enclosures, the best of which is homemade with wood, staple gun, and soft screening. However, I have a ton of critter cages that I wanted to use and not have to throw away, but they suck as far as giving the mantis some "grip" to climb upwards. SO, I spent many sleepless nights on trying to solve this and here's what I came up with that works like an absolute charm:

1. Wash/dry cage thoroughly.

2. Get yourself some clear, non-toxic glue (Elmer's makes one) that is not easily water soluble, but can be washed once dry with soap and water and a small amount of elbow grease. (There are also non-toxic permanent glues if you prefer. Just make sure that in addition to being nontoxic, glue also has no noxious smell.)

3. Get some hermit crab sand at your local pet store in whatever color is closest to your bug. Mine are all golden or bright green, both colors I was able to find easily in hermit crab sand. OH, and I have one rose-colored mantid in which case I created a rose-colored sand by mixing white sand with red wine and let it dry out.) These sands are non-toxic and made of calcium carbonate, which serves another purpose: if you use crickets for feeding, they nibble on this sand and it gives them an extra dose of calcium--good for the bug higher on the food chain (your mantis).

OK, now do this:

4. Rub glue on all sides of plastic terrarium, but keep it VERY thin. The sand WILL stick, believe me.

5. Throw some sand in and shake until all sides are coated. Then, if you want to get artistic, you can take a toothpick or other device and scratch patterns (grasses, bamboo, whatever your inner artist dictates) while glue/sand mixture is still wet. You can also just finger paint the glue on to begin with and create patterns of grasses or leaves.

6. Let cage dry, then tap sides hard to make excess fall off. You may want to lightly dust off excess later if you feel coating is too thick. You want to be able to see your mantis but also leave no gaps that they have difficulty navigating around.

7. And....WahLAH! Your mantids will be able to climb the walls to top of cage (but sometimes they like hanging out on the sides as well!). Another advantage to this is that the crickets can also climb now, and when they do, they make it to the top of the cage and are REALLY easy prey for the Bug Superior.

GB

 

[Rick]

That's a decent approach. LIke you said, too thick and it will block your view. I personally don't use cc's because of the lid design. I much prefer 32 oz insect cups and live monarch net cages.

 

[PeterF]

Have you tried this doing just 3 walls? I guess my thought is can you do it to some walls while leaving 1 wall clear.

I guess using the right glue you can wash off any glue/sand that sticks to the wall you want clean.

Seems like there is more that can be done with color combos than simply matching to the bug.

 

[warpdrive]

I personaly like this idea a lot because many of us have extra CCs in our closets and would like to put some good use to them.

I too would only do 3 sides or just the back and partway the sides for extra viewing.

Harry

 

[massaman]

I just put vines thick enough in the cage for the mantis to climb on and lay ooths on with a bottom like 2-3 inches full of dirt or sand and dont worry about gluing sand to the sides as the vines provide a surface for the mantis and its prey to move around and the mantis has no problem catching anything with this set up as the mantis will find its food source or vice versa and what not!

 

[Ricardo]

you know those little square holes on the side of the lid?

If you shove a tooth pick through it and to the other side, ( do this multiple times )and you can have a very nice top apparatus.

I don't do anything drastic to my cc. Instead I just have a good few twig networks making it easy for crickets and mantid to get to top.

If the branch factor is well plotted, sand is not needed.

But to each their own!

 

[GreenBean]

To address various above responses:

well, maybe some of you have had better luck with getting your mantids to use the sticks, twigs, plants, leaves you put in the cage to assist their journey to the top, or to hang and catch prey from, but for me, they ALWAYS end up trying to climb the sides of the CC (and I have every size of those things that they make) and it's very frustrating to watch them struggle with it, as I'm sure it is stressful for them. In fact, I do a combo of both things: sand to sides AND grasses/twigs, even whole small plants and substrate. They are still drawn to the sides because they can see the outside world through them and they are attempting to GET to that outside world. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Regarding use of color mixtures: Sure, and I have done this, but I think it is important to primarily use sand colors that the mantid would normally be attracted to in nature, and unfortunately, the sands only come in a limited number of colors (at least at our local PetCo), which is why you might experiment with making some of your own (as I did with the red wine and white sand to suit my rosy-colored bugs). I believe it is probably not comfortable for a mantid that is light golden in color to be in a cage with just the bright green leaves of a plant, or a green mantid to be in a cage of dead leaves and brown twigs. Make sense? Therefor, I think color is VERY important. That said, variations in natural foliage certainly do appear in the outside world, but I tend to find my local wild-caught varieties on flora that is pretty solid in color and very well matched to their own coloring. If I upset this balance in the "lab," I actually notice gradual changes beginning to appear in the bug's coloring. This suggests to me a sort of attempt by nature to adjust an imbalance, and that is one stress I can control to a degree in my housing/environment. Additionally, when I let them outside to "play," I also am careful to put them on like-colored plants. Remember that they see very well, so I think keeping their environment as true in color as possible is very important.

 

[Rick]

Regarding use of color mixtures: Sure, and I have done this, but I think it is important to primarily use sand colors that the mantid would normally be attracted to in nature, and unfortunately, the sands only come in a limited number of colors (at least at our local PetCo), which is why you might experiment with making some of your own (as I did with the red wine and white sand to suit my rosy-colored bugs). I believe it is probably not comfortable for a mantid that is light golden in color to be in a cage with just the bright green leaves of a plant, or a green mantid to be in a cage of dead leaves and brown twigs. Make sense? Therefor, I think color is VERY important. That said, variations in natural foliage certainly do appear in the outside world, but I tend to find my local wild-caught varieties on flora that is pretty solid in color and very well matched to their own coloring. If I upset this balance in the "lab," I actually notice gradual changes beginning to appear in the bug's coloring. This suggests to me a sort of attempt by nature to adjust an imbalance, and that is one stress I can control to a degree in my housing/environment. Additionally, when I let them outside to "play," I also am careful to put them on like-colored plants. Remember that they see very well, so I think keeping their environment as true in color as possible is very important.

None of that makes any difference. You can keep them on neon green backgrounds and it won't effect them in any way, shape, or form. The colors are for you, not the mantis.

 

[PeterF]

I believe it is probably not comfortable for a mantid that is light golden in color to be in a cage with just the bright green leaves of a plant, or a green mantid to be in a cage of dead leaves and brown twigs. Make sense? Therefor, I think color is VERY important.

None of that makes any difference. You can keep them on neon green backgrounds and it won't effect them in any way, shape, or form. The colors are for you, not the mantis.

GBs idea does make some sense, though I was as skeptical of it as Rick (I still am).

It is a valid argument that if they are going to be camouflage then being attracted to and comfortable in their own color seems important.

However, I don't know that they are even able to sense what color they are are or their surroundings.

Or, to simplify it to evolutionary mechanics. I have no knowledge that they are "uncomfortable" in environments they do not match. "Uncomfortable" being an easy term for causing the organism to move away.

But still, camo is useless if you don' use it.

Sounds like an experiment to me.

...Must import mega mantis to test foliage preference and color relation.....

 

[GreenBean]

Rick,

I bet you don't think they have emotions either, do you, DO YOU???