Joe Caruso
Active member
Well, some of you may be aware from some of my recent posts that I have an interest in keeping a mantid but am a little hesitant regarding the prospect of having to feed it live insects.
Well, I decided to just shut up and go for it, and my Madagscan Marbled Mantis (Polyspilota Aeruginosa) arrived a couple of hours ago. I've consoled myself with the knowledge that they aren't a particularly long lived animal, and that if feeding live critters is something I find I'm just not up to, I'll only have to grit my teeth and do so for less than a year, then perhaps use the enclosure for phasmids.
(Please be assured that even if I find the task distasteful I will NOT be abandoning the mantis. I am fully aware of the responsibility I have taken on, and will care for the mantis to the best of my ability for as long as it lives.)
Having said all this, I fed it a mealworm a little while ago and found that it wasn't so hard. I've owned cats and dogs in the past, and feeding a mantis a cricket or a house fly is no different from feeding a dog or a cat food containing the flesh of animals such as chickens or cows or whatever, the only difference being that I am raising the feeder insects myself, rather than getting someone else to do my "dirty-work".
As far as food goes, I am feeding the mantis fruit flies (which I'm obtaining from the compost bin in my back yard), and mealworms, a colony of which I am breeding indoors. As I said, I shook a mealworm in front of the mantid an hour ago, and he/she took it and ate fairly quickly. The mantis seems healthy, if a little skittish at this stage. Every time I come close to take a look at him he eyeballs me, and his eyes follow me as I move around. His head is odd in a cool way, and for someone like me for whom mantis owning is a completely new pursuit, the mobility of his head in particular and body in general is amazing.
His enclosure is a Machioro Aquazoo plastic faunariaum, and I am fairly sure it's quite a bit too big for him/her, (it's 48cmX31cmx31cm). I didn't originally intend to use such a large tank, but the mail order company I bought everything from told me they were out of the size I originally ordered. The two alternatives they had in stock were either very small or very large. Perhaps naively I went for the larger of the two, figuring that the more space and freedom of movement it had the less stressed the mantid would be. He seems happy, but in a tank that size I guess I'll just have to make extra sure that he gets hold of any food I put in there for him. I have a spray-bottle which I've filled with bottled water (given the larger than average size of the tank would you recommend spraying more regularly?)
I have put a 3 inch substrate of fine orchid bark at the bottom of the tank. Running diagonally across the enclosure is a large, thick branch of wood I obtained from my garden, weaved around which are some false vines and plants. There's a Namibia spider brick in there to aid with maintaining humidity levels, a small reptile cave, and a water dish. I know most of the bits and pieces I've stuck in there is superfluous, but I figured that as I was going to have all this unexpected space in the tank I might as well stick some extra items in there to keep the mantid occupied. There's plenty of floor space too, although thus far the little guy has spent most of his/her time hanging from the roof.
I have a mid-range 7 megapixel camera, but if I can figure out how to upload pics I'll try to get some on here for you guys. We'll see how this goes, although so far I'm enjoying it.
Well, I decided to just shut up and go for it, and my Madagscan Marbled Mantis (Polyspilota Aeruginosa) arrived a couple of hours ago. I've consoled myself with the knowledge that they aren't a particularly long lived animal, and that if feeding live critters is something I find I'm just not up to, I'll only have to grit my teeth and do so for less than a year, then perhaps use the enclosure for phasmids.
(Please be assured that even if I find the task distasteful I will NOT be abandoning the mantis. I am fully aware of the responsibility I have taken on, and will care for the mantis to the best of my ability for as long as it lives.)
Having said all this, I fed it a mealworm a little while ago and found that it wasn't so hard. I've owned cats and dogs in the past, and feeding a mantis a cricket or a house fly is no different from feeding a dog or a cat food containing the flesh of animals such as chickens or cows or whatever, the only difference being that I am raising the feeder insects myself, rather than getting someone else to do my "dirty-work".
As far as food goes, I am feeding the mantis fruit flies (which I'm obtaining from the compost bin in my back yard), and mealworms, a colony of which I am breeding indoors. As I said, I shook a mealworm in front of the mantid an hour ago, and he/she took it and ate fairly quickly. The mantis seems healthy, if a little skittish at this stage. Every time I come close to take a look at him he eyeballs me, and his eyes follow me as I move around. His head is odd in a cool way, and for someone like me for whom mantis owning is a completely new pursuit, the mobility of his head in particular and body in general is amazing.
His enclosure is a Machioro Aquazoo plastic faunariaum, and I am fairly sure it's quite a bit too big for him/her, (it's 48cmX31cmx31cm). I didn't originally intend to use such a large tank, but the mail order company I bought everything from told me they were out of the size I originally ordered. The two alternatives they had in stock were either very small or very large. Perhaps naively I went for the larger of the two, figuring that the more space and freedom of movement it had the less stressed the mantid would be. He seems happy, but in a tank that size I guess I'll just have to make extra sure that he gets hold of any food I put in there for him. I have a spray-bottle which I've filled with bottled water (given the larger than average size of the tank would you recommend spraying more regularly?)
I have put a 3 inch substrate of fine orchid bark at the bottom of the tank. Running diagonally across the enclosure is a large, thick branch of wood I obtained from my garden, weaved around which are some false vines and plants. There's a Namibia spider brick in there to aid with maintaining humidity levels, a small reptile cave, and a water dish. I know most of the bits and pieces I've stuck in there is superfluous, but I figured that as I was going to have all this unexpected space in the tank I might as well stick some extra items in there to keep the mantid occupied. There's plenty of floor space too, although thus far the little guy has spent most of his/her time hanging from the roof.
I have a mid-range 7 megapixel camera, but if I can figure out how to upload pics I'll try to get some on here for you guys. We'll see how this goes, although so far I'm enjoying it.
