My Cultivation Station

[itzjustjeff]

nice! what's the setup like?

 

[frogparty]

We make false bottoms in our tanks to prevent sogginess

 

[itzjustjeff]

Gotcha I'll do that

 

[CoolMantid]

Its in my Betta fishes tank. It has live growing bamboo. My fish has been so happy!

 

[minard734]

Nice setup, keep it up man!

 

[itzjustjeff]

Update:

Flora:

The plants are slowly developing root systems and are now upright again. There is slight growth in the HC. I have also started two other immersed setups to plant Ultrica Gramnifolia along with some other plants. I'll update with pictures soon.

Fauna:

My Sphodros are now all in L3 and my Ghosts and Creos are now L2

 

[CoolMantid]

Wow. Its coming along!

 

[gripen]

Update:

Flora:

The plants are slowly developing root systems and are now upright again. There is slight growth in the HC. I have also started two other immersed setups to plant Ultrica Gramnifolia along with some other plants. I'll update with pictures soon.

Fauna:

My Sphodros are now all in L3 and my Ghosts and Creos are now L2

Pics or it didn't happen

 

[itzjustjeff]

Pics or it didn't happen

The HC is starting to shoot lines of roots down. Can anyone spy the L2 Creo in this picture?

Growing Ultrica Gramnifolia in this case. I'm planning to use this and HC in different setups when they're adults

It looks a lot better once it's grown in!

Another plant I'll be using in my tanks. Anubias nana petite

One of my Ghosts L2

1 of 3 Sphodros which are now L3

1 of 3 Creos in L2

setup hasn't changed much, I split up the Creos and Ghosts though.

Another tank I'm setting up, waiting for the mantids to mature

Huge Reptile show this weekend...I'll update if I buy anything.

 

[CoolMantid]

Is that a humidifier?

 

[gripen]

nice job!

 

[itzjustjeff]

Is that a humidifier?

Yeap it is. Not the best one but it gets the RH where I want it to be

 

[itzjustjeff]

Does anyone know the general time period mantids will be in each instar according to my ambient parameters? (66-75 degrees and 60% humidity)

Will I have to change this as grow into later instars? Sorry, I've tried searching for answers but I can't seem to find any.

I have been looking for springtails for my immersed setups for a while..and yesterday I finally got some! They're of the tropical variety, so they can do well in most mantid enclosures. A big thank you to frogparty for attempting to contact frog breeders in my area; however, mainly just thank you for giving me the idea that all i had to do is find a local frog breeder. An idea is like a virus. Got ahold of one in the planted tank community. If anyone wants springtails locally, I will be culturing them. I'll give cultures to you for the price of equipment (container, substrate, etc) basically free!

 

[Psychobunny]

Since I have so many enclosers, I need to keep things as simple as possible or I would be up all night

when I clean cages! LOL.

I use only paper towels as a substrate (if I even have a substrate!) and use large, widemouth, plastic

jars with a large hole cut in the side and screen glued (like a big round window!!).

I also cut out and screen the lid with a Dremel tool with the hole cutting attachment.

My larger adults get to live in 12'' net cubes with a fake plant inside.

My setup may not be pretty, but it works well and easier to clean.

If I only had one or 2 mantids, I guess I would have a nicer cage

 

[itzjustjeff]

So it's been about a month now since I've last updated and I figure I'd try to stay on top of this journal. The more time I spend in this hobby, along with my others, the more I want to pursue a major in Biology. Maybe I should consider minoring in it? Anyway, there has been decent growth with the plants the past month. I think at this rate the tanks will be complete by the time my mantids are sub-adults. This will give them a nice green lawn to forage on and hopefully plenty of foliage to hang from. I've just been splitting the stemmed plants since they can be cloned as long as they're grown immersed. I also got a few more mantids. It's crazy to think that I started out only wanting to buy one Sphodromantis..and now I'm here. Anyway, I thought I'd post some pics! I'm really hoping to invest in a new camera soon. Still trying to make enough money to do so.

Here they are:

Sphodro munching on a Dubia

ever-growing countertop

Before:

http://media11.dropshots.com/photos/691746/20120102/211319.jpg

After!

Before:

http://media11.dropshots.com/photos/691746/20120102/213551.jpg

After!

One of my ghosts:

Just turned L4 today

Can anyone guess what nymph this is?

Temporary Ghost nymph enclosure

Before:

http://media11.dropshots.com/photos/691746/20120102/210944.jpg

After!

I know my camera sucks but hopefully you can see the springtails keeping the system healthy.

I decided not to make a false bottom since the substrate is granulated. It keeps the roots moist and allows air to pass through. Humidity stays around 60-70%. I'll probably start separating my small square lawn to make larger tanks for my mantids once they're big

 

[CoolMantid]

Wow they have grown (Mantis and Plants)

 

[Martzilla]

I really like your choice of plants. It looks like the dwarf tears will make a great mat!

I'm curious about what wattage you are using in your nano and those grow lamps?

 

[itzjustjeff]

It's just a 13w bulb, pretty low on the spectrum compared to usual bulbs though 6,700k

 

[Mimblex]

The terrarium is such an awesome setup! Even that temp ghost enclosure is cool, I like the twig "ladder", haha.

 

[itzjustjeff]

Moltiplication!

Everyone decided to molt a few days ago. I was only able to catch two in the process...but I felt that it meant it was time to update