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CubbySetsFire
Member
Welcome 
and you are not alone, thats for sure! haha
and you are not alone, thats for sure! haha
Sarah K
Well-known member
Thanks!! I am already an addict. Started with them just as a science project to keep the kiddos' brains working and am now a full-blown addict!Welcome! You are at the beginning of an awesome journey!
sally
Well-known member
Welcome. You have been bitten by the bug haha. My name is Pat and I'm a mantis addict lol.
Welcome!! Cheers from Virginia! I'm currently raising only t. sinensis and h. membranacea. Renovating my home and keeping my addiction to a small operation! What species do you keep? My girls are all expecting if you need babies! (My name is Christine and I keep mantids. Thanks for letting me share!)
ashleenicole
Well-known member
Welcome!
guapoalto049
Well-known member
Welcome to the forum
LazarusMantid
Well-known member
Hello! Yes they do become an obsession quickly!
I have just the starter Chinese for now... I don't have recent pics but will get some soon, working on updating their little cups. I had 4 at the beginning of the summer, but 2 died, I am guessing from bacteria... one is pretty crippled, but the last one is growing and thriving. I recently ordered new juveniles in hopes to get a female I can breed closer to spring for the yard, but I'm not sure if I have a chica yet. I know my older guy definitely looks boy-ish, but he likes to climb around or hide so I can't see the sections to count them... shape is more of the narrow like boys have, though. I "think" he's maybe L4 or 5.
I have been using plastic canvas for them in the cups for climbing, but it doesn't let them camoflauge well, so I'm going today to get some paint and décor I can pop in and out easily.
Pics to come soon!
I have been using plastic canvas for them in the cups for climbing, but it doesn't let them camoflauge well, so I'm going today to get some paint and décor I can pop in and out easily.
Pics to come soon!
Thanks! I live in Minnesota, so I can only have ooths in the Spring/Summer when I can release in the yard and gardens... :-( I really enjoy them, what an interesting creature! My husband thinks I'm nuts. My sons find them fascinating in a passing-by-in-a-rush/ADHD type of moment. I work from home, so I am setting up my office space with some of the habitats for something nice and relaxing to look at when I need a distraction moment.
Skrout
Member
Welcome
Here are some before decor pictures. I tried to help the crippled guy with some tape, seems to work okay, his broken leg and lower body are attached to the tape and he holds the sides with his less-crippled arm and working front leg. His other two legs work sort of, but he can't hold himself up. I doubt he'll moult, and I'm trying to decide if I should put him down... But I don't want to... ? He eats by hand and man, he can pack it in!
The other is my big-guy, I think
The other is my big-guy, I think
Not sure what to say really about taping a mantid intentionally, as tape is a death sentence for any insect. It traps anything it touches on a insect, mantids included, and almost always the area touching the tape is ripped off their body in the process of struggling or trying to remove it.
Sadly, even if you leave the tape on and decide not to remove it, there will likely be molting issues caused by it - as the abdomen (and whatever else the tape is on) will not be able to move freely and expand in order for him to molt successfully from the taped exoskeleton.
Injured mantids are often nursed back to health by most keepers, myself included, as long as they survive to molt the issues are usually cleared up in the molt. That said the prey is brought to the mantid, and the mantid is left as is. One of the most common ways is offering prey on tweezers/tongs, or even a thumbtack.
Sadly, even if you leave the tape on and decide not to remove it, there will likely be molting issues caused by it - as the abdomen (and whatever else the tape is on) will not be able to move freely and expand in order for him to molt successfully from the taped exoskeleton.
Injured mantids are often nursed back to health by most keepers, myself included, as long as they survive to molt the issues are usually cleared up in the molt. That said the prey is brought to the mantid, and the mantid is left as is. One of the most common ways is offering prey on tweezers/tongs, or even a thumbtack.
?. I read somewhere about tape for a leg so they could hang and that was what I was trying, backfired... Never again.
I will try a gentle non-toxic remover. He's so twisted, breaks my heart...
Have you seen them moult if they can't hang?
I use some funky reverse-type tweezers to feed him... I wanted to try horn worms on my bigger guy but he hates them... But the poor guy loves them like crazy, so no loss of money... And super easy to get hold of with the tweezers!
I will try a gentle non-toxic remover. He's so twisted, breaks my heart...
Have you seen them moult if they can't hang?
I use some funky reverse-type tweezers to feed him... I wanted to try horn worms on my bigger guy but he hates them... But the poor guy loves them like crazy, so no loss of money... And super easy to get hold of with the tweezers!
I think he's dead, just went to get him to start the super-slow removal and he's not moving and looks pretty done. I'll leave him and keep an eye just incase, but I think I failed horribly here.
for my future... do they come back from that level of crippling, if I'd just left him laying down and continued to hand-feed him, would he have had a chance?
his condition: 1 front arm twisted off to the side with no visible function, other arm seemed functional. 1front leg functional, other leg intact but didn't appear functional-he never really moved it at all. 1 back leg moved, but didn't grip anything, the gripper things were there, but more often than not he just waved it around and pulled it away if he brushed against something. The other leg was missing part of the lower half, not sure what happened, it was like that when I picked him up after the moult. His twisted arm still had part of the old skin on it and his back was bent forward. He couldn't move his body at all, just his head, one front leg, and one arm.
for my future... do they come back from that level of crippling, if I'd just left him laying down and continued to hand-feed him, would he have had a chance?
his condition: 1 front arm twisted off to the side with no visible function, other arm seemed functional. 1front leg functional, other leg intact but didn't appear functional-he never really moved it at all. 1 back leg moved, but didn't grip anything, the gripper things were there, but more often than not he just waved it around and pulled it away if he brushed against something. The other leg was missing part of the lower half, not sure what happened, it was like that when I picked him up after the moult. His twisted arm still had part of the old skin on it and his back was bent forward. He couldn't move his body at all, just his head, one front leg, and one arm.
