"New" enclosure design

[PhilinYuma]

O.K., I've just come up with the perfect way to make custom sized, inexpensive enclosures for nymphs or for adult mantids that are too large for a 32oz pot. This means that at least a dozen experienced members will have already tried the same idea, so I would like to run it by you for comments and advice.

I recently set up one of Lou's (SpiderPharm) fly raising kits. It's very easy to make, but he or Mrs.Lou sews a really nice sleeve to fit over the PVC frame. I was really surprised that the tulle (wedding dress material available at Walmart's and Finer Fabric Stores Everywhere) allows such a clear view of the contents of the cage and so decided to try it. The view is substantially better than that of a "butterfly cage", the tulle holds in even mels, and they should be stackable.

I'll make the frame out of 1/2" PVC pipe, cut to whatever size I want, and held together by corner pieces (I call 'em "side outlet 90s" is that right, Katt?). This method uses slip joints, but if you wanted something stronger that can still be disassembled easily, you could use threaded corners and pipe nipples, which I think go up to 12".

Since I can't sew :huh: I'll hot glue or epoxy the tulle to the frame, but I'll need an entrance port at the back. I was thinking of using a sleeve port of the type I use on my fly bucket, but I might try an easier, certainly less cumbersome way of giving access, by setting it up like the flap on an envelope and using Velcro instead of glue.

Obviously, I can test this, but does anyone know, for sure, if tulle holds in humidity? I would probably use a container with wood chips and water like we do in feeder insect enclosures.

Before I rush off to Tools R Us for the PVC, I shall welcome any suggestions and caveats that you may have.

 

[hibiscusmile]

it wont hold moisture, it will dry faster than nylons in the wind :lol: .U can use it for mantis, and flies, but anything that chews will go right thru it.

 

[Katnapper]

I like the idea and commend your ambition for wanting to make some superior larger enclosures by hand, Phil! I do see a couple of possible snags though... (no pun intended :lol: )

Are you sure tulle holds in melanogasters? Have you tried it? I looked at tulle as a possibility for screening, but the representative fabric I saw didn't look to me like they would hold them in. I didn't buy it for that reason, and test it either though.

I think the opening/door might be your biggest challenge. One, in constructing it. Two, in getting it soundly shut. I'm having this vision of you (in my vision, I picture you as looking like my father-in-law, lol. Not a bad thing, btw) hurridly trying to get the Velcro back together straight between two flimsy surfaces that lack support, and having a heck of a time. And with repeated use, Velcro seems to attract a lot of "webeasties" (lint, threads, dirt, dead flies, etc.) and just doesn't hold as well as it did when new... which could become a problem.

Just some things to consider....

Oh, and btw... I have no earthly idea what those PVC corner connectors are called. I'm a laborer, not a carpenter, lol. But I can dig, grade, form, puddle, and help finish the sidewalk, street, highway, or runway to your house!

Edit: Another thing... This just seems like it would be a lot of possibly problematic work! I'd go for the zippered net cubes, lol!

 

[Rick]

The tried and true methods work fine. I prefer to keep things as simple as possible.

 

[PhilinYuma]

The tried and true methods work fine. I prefer to keep things as simple as possible.

Well I agree with keeping things simple, Rick, if they work, but if we always followed the "tried and true method" we'd still be using this "simple" method from 1928 which was in vogue when I was born:

On hatching, S. carolina individuals can be placed in homeopathic vials supplied with a piece of litmus paper on which the baby mantis can cling. At about the third molt, they can be transferred to 4oz widemouthed bottles with cork stoppers and a strip of cardboard for them to stand on. Finally, they may be transferred to quart specimen jars or 6" stender dishes. (Excerpted from Frank Lutz, et al, eds, Culture Methods for Invertebrate Animals, Dover, 1937 and still available on Amazon!)

Unfortunately, as Hibiscusmile and Katnapper point out, my idea has too many problems (though tulle does contain even the wingless mels, Katt) and I find 1/2" PVC pipe a bit clumsy, so back to the drawing board.

I have this cracked acrylic, 65gallon aquarium, and I thought that if I were to use a saber saw with plastic-cutting blades.......

 

[nasty bugger]

I imagine you know, but slow speeds with most plastic stuff and saws, or you melt the material and clog up the teeth.

They have metal tubing in hobby shops, for models and such, that are brass and aluminum, and smaller diameter than the pvc, if you seek tubing for the job.

Maybe slivers of bamboo. If you're really at a loss for material, you could roll paper into tubes and use that, but I doubt you're that desperate

I think that one could hang a clip or something from the ceiling or overhead, like a ceiling hook or chandlier or something, and attach loose netting to that, and just have a frame for spreading the bottom open to maintain space for the critters.

A guy could put a grommet in the middle of some netting, and take the nut off an overhead light shade, and put the screw through the net grommet and screw the light shade back up and support the net that way, and then do what you need to spread the body of the net open. Us bachelors have all kinds of options...

I'll have to try that for large overnight roaming space for the guys, when I want to let them out for rec They'd get lost in all the stored stuff I have around, if I didn't limit their roaming area.

Hit some yard sales and figure some ideas from the stuff available. The only problem there is wondering if they've used pesticides on the material available.

I used to unload freight from overseas for a walmart, and alot of overseas shipping containers, conex boxes, have pesticides sprayed into them, on top of the freight boxes, before shipping to the US, so anyone using stuff from certain points of origin may like to keep this info in mind.

Chucks set up in yarnell uses the pvc tubing with netting over it, and that's what contains his flies. The netting isn't really attached, it just lays over the frame, and he lifts the net and scoops up some flies.

 

[Katnapper]

I have this cracked acrylic, 65gallon aquarium, and I thought that if I were to use a saber saw with plastic-cutting blades.......

:lol: !

PS... Thanks for the tulle info/tip!