I found a Mantid!

[MantidNewbie]

Hey!

I've been on this site before, just lookin', and thought mantids were cool, but I didn't want to "buy" one, so I figured I'd just look around my yard until I found one. Well, I did, its about 1/4 in. long and brown, and I've fed it a few little,black ants, it's currently in an old vlassic pickle jar, with a stick from corner-to-corner. My questions are-Will he be OK in the jar, and are ants an OK diet? Oh, and I'm in North FL. any idea what species it is?

P.S. I wouldn't usually keep anything "wild" like this, but there are TONS of geckos and lizards around my house, and I knew it wouldn't last long.

 

[Malnra]

The jar is just ok .. hard for them to climb on glass so i would look for something plastic. Of course air holes are required .

ants are not so good as some are able to defend themselves with poison ... grasshoppers .. crickets moths butterflys are better ....

no clue on what species it is .. any chance you can post a pic of it ?

 

[hibiscusmile]

Yea, house flies are small enough too, hope you have fun with it!

 

[Sparky]

Get some fruitflies.