My Mantis Housing

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_simon_

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I visited a very small exotic pet shop a good few weeks back and saw some home made insect cages on a shelf with display insects in. On enquiring it turned out that the owner made them himself and also sold them. They're a very simple design and should be esay to make if you can get hold of the acrylic. They're 9" in diameter and 13" high. Unfortunately they don't come with a feeding hole so I've put those in myself. These 3 are housing my Giant Asians and I've got another 2 coming next week to house my Wandering Violins.

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Those are nice. Only concern I have is that as they get larger they will need a lot of vertical room to molt. The plants could get in the way at some point. But those are pretty nice!

 
Rick said:
Those are nice. Only concern I have is that as they get larger they will need a lot of vertical room to molt. The plants could get in the way at some point. But those are pretty nice!
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They're only silk plants, so I can move them around, take them out, chop them up as I see fit. :)

 
They're £12 (that's about $23) each to buy but I suspect you could make them a lot cheaper. I considered this but couldn't find any of the clear plastic. The bottom does come off, it's held on by velcro.

 
_simon_ said:
They're only silk plants, so I can move them around, take them out, chop them up as I see fit. :)
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I knew they were silk. Just wanted you to be aware of them being in the way at some point. I use them too often.

 
Ok, I have a ten gallon rectangular tank that i think i can divide into 3 parts! There is a screen top and glass walls. Were would be the best place to put the feading hole?

 
about an inch or so above the bottom or an inch above the substrate if using some.

Basically you want the hole at a position where the insects wont want to escape from. Since mantid and flies have a tendency to migrate to the top of enclousures the feeding hole supplies an area where the insects do not normally sit allowing easy access to toss in feeder insects.

You can plug this hole with foam or a sponge and I use a funnel to dump in insects.

 
riegs22 said:
about an inch or so above the bottom or an inch above the substrate if using some.Basically you want the hole at a position where the insects wont want to escape from. Since mantid and flies have a tendency to migrate to the top of enclousures the feeding hole supplies an area where the insects do not normally sit allowing easy access to toss in feeder insects.

You can plug this hole with foam or a sponge and I use a funnel to dump in insects.
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He has glass walls and drilling glass is hard unless you have the tools and know what your doing. so putting feeding holes in a 10 gallon tank may not work to well. But if you keep them in 32oz deli cups drill a hole in the lid or side and that works great.

 
Chameleonare said:
He has glass walls and drilling glass is hard unless you have the tools and know what your doing. so putting feeding holes in a 10 gallon tank may not work to well. But if you keep them in 32oz deli cups drill a hole in the lid or side and that works great.
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Is it worth the work to get a feeding hole? I have several plastic cups and I am thinking of getting a feeding hole. How will I do this? What else is there besides a sponge to plug up the hole? What would be the most convenient?

 
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I Like Mantis said:
Is it worth the work to get a feeding hole? I have several plastic cups and I am thinking of getting a feeding hole. How will I do this? What else is there besides a sponge to plug up the hole? What would be the most convenient?
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Whether it's worth it depends on your housing. If the top is a pain to get on and off then yes! If not then probably not. To make a feeding hole in a plastic container I either use something sharp or drill a hole depending on thickness and again depending on thickness either cut the hole bigger with scissors or drill it bigger. You can bung the hole up with whatever you like, it's just to stop the live food and Mantids escaping.

 

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