Large naturalistic enclosure observations

[PhilinYuma]

Hold on, fellas!! I don't know how you've been calculating but as far as I know, a 100x40x60 cm tank would contain 240 liters and a 100x50x60 cm tank would contain 450 liters. So while it's big, it's not 2400 liters, which is enormous.

You're quite right, of course, Tony. Orin is always supposed to check my math, but I guess that this time, he was too busy. Good news for Ming Ming!

The advice about marriage ceremonies getting easier with practice, is quite true though.

 

[MingMing]

done,... new post, posted

 

[tonyi]

In case anyone's curious, my male orchid mantis is still going strong in his jungle. He's about six months old now. A few days ago I bought two new orchids (a Dendrobium spp. and a Vanilla planifolia), it didn't take long for him to check them out;

 

[mythal]

That's the way to grow your mantids! So nice to see an orchid mantis with real live orchids.

 

[broderickgil]

What are all the plants you have in there, and how do you plat them in there?

 

[tonyi]

Currently I have two species of Fittonia, two different species of Peperomia, Mimosa ludica, Aeschynanthus sp., Ficus pumila, an unidentified fern, a Dendrobium sp. orchid, Vanilla planifolia and a red vine-like plant whose name I forgot. Planting is easy, for terrestrial species I just remove all potting soil from the store and rinse the roots thoroughly, then simply put them in the substrate. For epiphytic species (i.e. plants that do not grow in soil) I usually mount them to the background, log or pieces of cork.

 

[tonyi]

A few days ago, I bought a cheap ultrasonic humidifier (for normal indoor use), modified it a bit (plugged the outlet, drilled a hole, attached a hose, built a suitable nozzle). It works like a charm so far, it's a great way of adding humidity to the living moss I have. But it's also a nice aesthetical addition. I'm planning on running it for 30-50 minutes per day.

When it's running, the vivarium looks like this;

EDIT; note the orchid mantis in the lower left corner. He doesn't spend much time down there but these past few days he's been watching the woodlice there and caught two adult wax moths.

 

[tonyi]

This story came to end yesterday, when the orchid mantis in question died. His metabolic rate must have been rather high since he spent his whole life in relatively even high temperatures (28-30 deg. C, cooler during the nights), so I'm glad he lived this long. I don't think I'll be getting a new mantid any time soon, as silly as it may sound I prefer to remember the one I had rather than seek to replace him with a new one, as if nothing had happened.

 

[cloud jaguar]

You should write a little book on setting up and keeping a terrarium like that for mantids - i would sure buy it!

 

[Katnapper]

This story came to end yesterday, when the orchid mantis in question died. His metabolic rate must have been rather high since he spent his whole life in relatively even high temperatures (28-30 deg. C, cooler during the nights), so I'm glad he lived this long. I don't think I'll be getting a new mantid any time soon, as silly as it may sound I prefer to remember the one I had rather than seek to replace him with a new one, as if nothing had happened.

Sorry to hear, Tony.

 

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[SIZE=14pt]Sorry Tony, but he had a good life with in his little world.[/SIZE]

 

[sbugir]

Sorry to hear, nonetheless that vivarium is very impressive

 

[hierodula]

thats so sad. at least he lived a good long life