It has been over a year. We have kept 7 mantises for various periods in that time. One premature death, an L2 Giant Devil Mantis that fell while molting. Our male Giant Rainforest made it about a year. Our male Ghost made it about 11 months. One female ghost also made it about 11 months. Our male peacock mantis made it about 10 months.
We still have one female ghost. Moira was an L2 when we got her early last November. That means she is 13-14 months old. Still looking good and eating well. We got her from Patty. She eats primarily green banana roaches and isopods these days. She has a mesh-top bioactive enclosure (the type advertised for crested geckos) with a couple of bromeliads and a colony of giant canyon isopods and springtails. We always keep humidity between 50-65 and temperature around 72-75F.
We used to handle our mantises every week, but the fun of that has mostly worn off so we mostly leave her to herself these days. I just wanted to share our long-term experience. Patty provided good stock and was nice to work with. Ghost mantises are, like everyone here says, great for beginners. They are great for non-beginners. Moira is a little brute, even striking a second time while already holding some prey, ending up with two roaches at once.
She will probably be our last mantis for now. Our fish, shrimp, guinea pigs, cat, and dog are keeping us plenty busy. The educational experience was really my favorite part, and I hope we can share it with our kids some day.
We still have one female ghost. Moira was an L2 when we got her early last November. That means she is 13-14 months old. Still looking good and eating well. We got her from Patty. She eats primarily green banana roaches and isopods these days. She has a mesh-top bioactive enclosure (the type advertised for crested geckos) with a couple of bromeliads and a colony of giant canyon isopods and springtails. We always keep humidity between 50-65 and temperature around 72-75F.
We used to handle our mantises every week, but the fun of that has mostly worn off so we mostly leave her to herself these days. I just wanted to share our long-term experience. Patty provided good stock and was nice to work with. Ghost mantises are, like everyone here says, great for beginners. They are great for non-beginners. Moira is a little brute, even striking a second time while already holding some prey, ending up with two roaches at once.
She will probably be our last mantis for now. Our fish, shrimp, guinea pigs, cat, and dog are keeping us plenty busy. The educational experience was really my favorite part, and I hope we can share it with our kids some day.
Its great she lived so long! Watching them continue to thrive is the best part, I think. Just out of curiosity, you said "almost never any vomit". I've kept mantids for awhile but never heard that term. What does it mean, if you don't mind me asking?
