My new habitats

[chrisstpeter]

Built some habitats for my 3 L2s today out of acrylic. I used sheer for ventilation on the bottom, top, and back wall. Lined the floor with some sheet moss, and added in some silk/ plastic flowers.
No lid, empty habitat:
Empty habitat with lid:
Finished habitat with mantis:
All 3, sitting side by side in the window

 

[Nicolas]

looks luxurious. for a mantid of course

 

[hibiscusmile]

Looks good, if I was a mantis, I would move right in!

 

[ScienceGirl]

Very Attractive!

 

[Retpallylol]

Where did you get the acrylic pieces? A hardware store?

 

[chrisstpeter]

I got the acrylic at lowes, $12 for a sheet that was large enough to cut all the pieces and have plenty left over. Ok, SO... looks like I'm going to have to try again at some point. This was my first ever attempt at working acrylic, and, well... I thought it was good, but apparently not good enough. The pieces weren't cut precisely enough, and I didn't assemble them precisely enough because I had small gaps through which all of my fruit flies kept escaping! So I modded the rubbermaid containers I had them in before. Made them similar to these acrylic enclosures in that I put ventilation on the top, bottom, and back wall.

 

[TheOtherSpecies]

I've found that trial and error is a big thing when building any type of enclosure for Mantids! Keep going at it strong and eventually it will come together for you!

 

[nirotorin]

They look great. I'm sure you'll work out the kinks next time.

 

[glock34girl]

.

 

[RocknessMonster]

Amazing work love

 

[sally]

Very nice ...where did you find the fine mesh screen?

 

[ScienceGirl]

Yes, I'm looking for mesh fabric as well for mantid cages... Any suppliers that you know of?

 

[mantid_mike]

If you can find a place that does laser cutting, I can send you a file to give to them and have your sides cut perfectly.

What are the dimensions of the sheets that they sell at Lowes? $12 sounds like a great price compared to my school's store.

 

[kunturman]

Nice work. Just for future reference check this link:

http://www.professionalplastics.com/PLEXIGLASS-ACRYLICSHEET-EXTRUDED?gclid=CL-B647B2LgCFWZk7Aod0GUAww