New mantid enthusiasts from Toronto area

[hysteresis]

Hey all!  Thanks for having us. 

We're new to mantids. We found a male European in our yard and kept him for 6 weeks. He died Thanksgiving Monday (CND Thanksgiving).

We've learned from our mistake - be more careful with the the feeding and care of feeder crickets. Guh! No carrots. 

Anyways, thanks for accepting the join request. I hope to find another mantis before it's too cold (just a few day left), or meet someone on here with nymphs or adults for sale, but that's for another post. 

Thank you! 

(The photo below was taken Oct 3rd. He was pretty! ?) 

 

[Synapze]

Welcome! Sorry you lost such a fine looking specimen. 

 

[hysteresis]

Welcome! Sorry you lost such a fine looking specimen. 

@Synapze ... Thank you very much!

We were lucky to have have him. 

I really thought he'd live on through spring. Super hungry! 

We're going to be very very careful with feeder insects next time. 

 

[ausar318]

What a magnificent mantis! Let me warn you, though. Now that you’ve joined this forum, you have been infected with the mantis virus. Early symptoms are simple: appreciation for the elegance of mantids, maybe catching a wild one from time to time. Then, all the sudden, the symptoms will become severe. You’ll become obsessed with mantids, get 20 of them, and live happily ever after!

Im just kidding, of course! This really is an amazing place to connect with some pretty awesome people, though. Welcome!

 

[Mantis Lady]

What a magnificent mantis! Let me warn you, though. Now that you’ve joined this forum, you have been infected with the mantis virus. Early symptoms are simple: appreciation for the elegance of mantids, maybe catching a wild one from time to time. Then, all the sudden, the symptoms will become severe. You’ll become obsessed with mantids, get 20 of them, and live happily ever after! 

Hhahahaah so true?

@hysteresis welcome

Aww, sad you lost your mantis. He was beautiful. good luck with choosing your new mantis. Mantids are great insects

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[hysteresis]

@ausar318... Don't I know it. Six weeks that ended too soon.

How can I go on without a mantis?

I'm seriously considering an ooth. I was hoping to do that later on, but may just need to start now.

Everywhere I go... everywhere I look... any random motion in the grass... I expect to see one perched!

Thanks very much for the warm welcome!

 

[hysteresis]

Thank you, @Little Mantis!

Hopefully we'll find or acquire another one, or maybe twenty. LoL.

My sons and I loved to watch him eat. At feedings, my youngest would say "Go get him, little guy."

 

[hysteresis]

Thank you very much, @Rick!

 

[Graceface]

Welcome! 

 

[hysteresis]

Wow all!

As a newcomer, I've been nosing through some amazing threads. I know I've barely nicked the surface.

What a dumb-dumb I was for not getting in here back when we first caught our little guy out back (my 6 year old son named him Mantissy).  ?

The depth to this hobby and the scope of your posts are eye-opening:

• Fruit fly dispensing apparatus...
  
• Feeder cricket-feeding experiments...
  
• The enclosure building magnum opus...
  
• Mantids as feeders? ?
  

The more I read, the deeper this gets, and the more I consider.

Again, this place is amazing. Thank you!

 

[MantisGirl13]

Welcome to the forum!! Your mantis was a male, and he died from old age, not any mistakes you made. 6 weeks is pretty good for an adult male European. He was beautiful! 

- MantisGirl13

 

[hysteresis]

Hi @MantisGirl13! Thank you. 

I'm so new that I wouldn't even know. 

I knew enough to identify him as a male European. That's it. 

Here in Ontario Canada, I can't imagine ooths (in the wild) would 'hatch' until late May / early June. Can't Europeans live longer than 6 months? 

Anyway yeh, RIP little guy. 

But a very cool thing happened today. 

WE FOUND ANOTHER MANTIS!

At work this time. A female by the looks. Another European because of the 'eye' markings under the raptorial arms???

Am I right? Here is she is, hanging out with my wife. ?

Those brown marks along side her abdomen. Could that be distention because she's ready to lay her ooth? 

Thanks again! 

 

[Mantis Lady]

Lucky you you found another one. By the looks of it,  your new mantis is female. And you gave her a nice warm home to live. think soon with will be to cold to live for mantids

Keep her ooths if she lays some. Maybe they will be fertile.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Ooh, yay! Congratulations! She will love longer than your male did with proper care. She is definitely a female European mantis.

- MantisGirl13

 

[hysteresis]

Wow, hey?

We look back after a few months.  So many of us come in the same way.  We found a mantis this or that.

Then we obsess, speculate, calculate.  What did we do?  What do we do?

We get a bit more comfortable, and throw caution to the wind.  Then the hook sets!  We buy bugs here, there, left right and center.

Our tables have cricket legs on them. Bits of dubia guts. FF don't bother us anymore. Not in the least bit.

This has been an amazing ride so far. Thanks all!

 

[hysteresis]

I really want Lola religiosa's ooth to be fertile and hatch me some nymphs. It's likely a stretch, I know.

I'd like to keep a dozen and feed 'em lots, and keep 'em warm. See what Mantis religiosa can look like.

I mean, they're the most prolific species on the planet. That has to mean something.

Funny how we ignore the top, in favour of the exotic. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

Our tables have cricket legs on them. Bits of dubia guts. FF don't bother us anymore. Not in the least bit.

So true!!! Lol  

I hope that Lola's ooth is fertile!

- MantisGirl13

 

[hysteresis]

Our tables have cricket legs on them. Bits of dubia guts. FF don't bother us anymore. Not in the least bit.

Funny anecdote I don't remember sharing, but it's about the Guinea Pigs, Penny and Panda.

They were so tiny when we got them. I put one into each side pocket of my zip up sweater, and lounged around a bit.  Hours later, I had my hands in-pocket and I felt something tiny tiny, like a piece of play doh.  We'll, I was taking to my wife so I was naturally more into our conversation rather than into analyzing what i was feeling in there.

Then, it struck me.

I pulled out a tiny piece of poop.