Long time Mantiphile, 1st time poster...

[humantis]

...well, actually this is my second post, but who's counting? :wink:

So how'd I get into Mantids anyways?

Years ago my ex-girlfriend's folks had a little property in the hilly Gold Country (made famous by Mark Twain's "Jumping Frog of Calaveras County") and we were staying the guest cabin.

One evening around sunset, I looked down to see a giant green insect on my sandal; I gently took my sandal off and set it down and looked at a fat queen-sized Chinese mantis, about 4".

This thing was totally fearless. It just checked us out - I couldn't get over the feeling that it was observing me back - and then slowly made it's way up a roof post over our heads and onto the screen window just above us. It ate a moth, hung out, & watched us when we walked around, but showed no sign of fear.

The next day I was out in a field nearby and just happened to see another smaller one on a tree and was amazed I'd never seen any of these guys before in all my visits. I held out my hand slowly, and it trucked right up onto my palm, looked around, walked around a bit more before I set it back down. I went to go pick it up again and extended my finger instead, moving a little faster, and the little beast struck! Now, this thing was maybe just under 2", and the force I felt in that critter's strike was amazing. Not painful, but a lot more than you'd expect.

Needless to say I was hooked.

So I started reading everything I could find (this was about 5 years ago), bought a copy of "Keeping Aliens", bought all kinds of terrarium stuff anticipating keeping 'em, and then when I tried to hatch my first two Chinese ooths... no luck. Humidity was high & temps were fine, nothing got shaken, but no babies. Got frustrated and decided to read a bit more, then like the typical ADD case I am got sidetracked and into planted freshwater nano-aquaria. But the fascination for Mantids never went away.

Fast forward to now: having had great success with planted tanks, started thinking about a paludarium... then started wondering; could I keep a mantis in one? A short Google search turned this site up, which didn't exist back when I first got into Mantids. I've been lurking and reading for a couple weeks - long enough to find out Chinese are relatively easy to keep but not the easiest to hatch & raise, which makes me feel better about my previous experience.

I'm interested in lots of things about these amazing animals - particularly breeding them for certain traits, making 100% living planted terraria for different species, photography, behavior...

So there we go. Hi everybody!

 

[wuwu]

welcome! we have a lot in common, haha. i used to be really into freshwater plants last year. however, i got bored and sold my last tank even though i've been keeping fw fish for over 10+ years. anyway, welcome to the forum!

 

[humantis]

Thanks Wuwu! Much appreciated.

You're keeping Wahlbergii eh? Would you recommend them for a beginner?

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[robo mantis]

Welcome.

 

[wuwu]

Thanks Wuwu! Much appreciated.You're keeping Wahlbergii eh? Would you recommend them for a beginner?

i like them, they're very exotic looking and easy to keep. i think my favorite at the moment is d. lobata though.

 

[humantis]

Thanks for all the welcomes!

I'm interested in all Mantids, but since I live in a relatively small apartment - and space is in short supply - getting started with one or two smaller varieties seems like the best idea using something like a divided critter keeper or 2 gallon aquarium.

Many of the existing "nanotank" aquariums (which sell for $20 where I live) could easily be converted for this, and the built in PC fluoro bulb can also heat the enclosure...

Character/personality would be nice too, such that insects can express them anyways. I'm mostly interested in watching them hunt though.

 

[Rick]

Thanks for all the welcomes!I'm interested in all Mantids, but since I live in a relatively small apartment - and space is in short supply - getting started with one or two smaller varieties seems like the best idea using something like a divided critter keeper or 2 gallon aquarium.

Many of the existing "nanotank" aquariums (which sell for $20 where I live) could easily be converted for this, and the built in PC fluoro bulb can also heat the enclosure...

Character/personality would be nice too, such that insects can express them anyways. I'm mostly interested in watching them hunt though.

I put those small 2 1/2 gal aquariums to good use. I use them alot with the dividers.

 

[Chrome]

haha, my current Mantis... my first and only... was a surprise valentines present! I love all sorts of critters though... better than a bunch of roses!

And welcome

 

[OGIGA]

Welcome! I'm also living in a small apartment and I'm keeping a few mantises. THey really don't demand a lot of space. They take up a considerable amount of time though.

 

[Ian]

Welcome to the forum humantis

 

[hibiscusmile]

Like your handle! I've done the fish thing, it do get boring, specially the cleaning. Course when your Oranda grows to 10" all you do is clean.

Welcome!

 

[humantis]

Thanks! Funny... lotsa migrants from the fish world here.

Tank cleaning is a total pain in the rear; hence my interest in small tanks, also called nanos. I only spend about 10 minutes every week on an 80 to 85% water change for my 5 gallon - that's the extent of my maintenance. The shrimp (Amanos and Cherries) & snails take care of the bottom cleaning, my fish don't get much bigger than an inch [Endlers Liverbearers] and almost everything in the tank is having babies all the time - plants included.

Small aquariums can be very low maintenance if done right: the secret is that it's nearly impossible to have too many plants. The more plants, the healthier the animals. My Endlers are pretty funny to watch (the tank is on my desk at work, a nice distraction to keep the blood pressure low). The males are constantly trying to mate and do this ridiculous dance for the totally disinterested females, who just want to eat and drop fry and get territorial with other females.

Anyways...

Ogiga, you mention that mantids are time consuming. Is this because you keep several and/or breed them, or... ? The only things holding me back from setting up a mantis habitat are A) the food source, since chirping crickets in a box won't fly with my girlfriend, and B) figuring out the climate part of the habitat before I buy any mantids, because my apartment tends to be fairly cool (55* F) sometimes (I like it that way!).

I have some small reptile heatmats & a thermostat, but they're apparently not meant to be mounted on plastic so a glass tank would be needed. And if I'm gonna use a glass tank, I might as well just use a small fluorescent light to heat it too, right?

 

[OGIGA]

Ogiga, you mention that mantids are time consuming. Is this because you keep several and/or breed them, or... ? The only things holding me back from setting up a mantis habitat are A) the food source, since chirping crickets in a box won't fly with my girlfriend, and B) figuring out the climate part of the habitat before I buy any mantids, because my apartment tends to be fairly cool (55* F) sometimes (I like it that way!).

I'm not breeding them or anything. This is actually my first time keeping mantises. I seperated them ever since L1 and fed them individually and had about 30 of them, so that may be why it took so much time. Now, I have two left: an L5 and one becoming L5 (hopefully it is successful). It doesn't take too much time now. When I had 10 of them, finding food for them was a little difficult and unpredictable.

 

[humantis]

That's why hatching an entire ooth seems like asking for a lot of work. At the risk of sounding like some Darwinian brute I'd almost be tempted to let the nymphs cannibalize each other until, in theory, only the healthiest few (say 3 or 4) survive. But then that also seems like a waste of a cool little baby mant, so... yeah. It's tough.

Maybe buying them individually as L1's or L2's is the way to go then. Hmmm...

 

[hibiscusmile]

:shock: That is why I hatch them out and after 24 hours or so (I mist the tank) I take them outside and let them out in the tall weeds or grass. This gives them a fighting chance and I only have to keep the amount I want! :lol:

 

[humantis]

That's not a bad approach, although most exotics (anything needing lots of heat especially) wouldn't stand a fightin' chance here in SF - which is why the idea of breeding a Chinese or Stagmomantis variety with increased tolerance to cold crossed my mind.

That's a pretty long term, involved project though and also begs the question of should I do such a thing - you know, the ethical stuff about messing with your local ecosystem. There's a ton of bugs in this city, on the one hand, but...