Hello everyone,
Just thought I'd post here as suggested in the forum subheading. I'm Nathan, from north Wales. I'm looking at getting my first mantid soon - as soon as the local shop gets them back in (when I went yesterday, they had chameleons, centipedes, coral, vipers, even a sodding caiman - everything but mantids).
I asked my landlord if I could get some sort of small animal, "or a fishtank", as I was "really missing having animals around". He responded "Hi Nathan. Fish are fine but no animals please". Given his refusal to consider fish animals, I figured that gave me quite a lot of scope with regards to what I COULD keep in the flat. I don't have the time to set up an aquarium right now, though that's very much on the long-term agenda as I love keeping fish. So I looked at other options.
I'd never considered mantids as pets before. This is mostly down to the fact that I always assumed they were expensive and complicated to keep. As a kid, I always liked them - I remember seeing one in a pet shop when I was about seven, and being fascinated. When I was 20 I was on holiday in Austria, near Vienna where they have hot Summers, and was gobsmacked to see mantises living wild in the village we were staying in - I'd always assumed they were a strictly tropical family. I was even more shocked to see one flying, something else I didn't know they could do.
Eight years later, and I have a tank, now I just need a mantis. Owing to their supposed ease of keeping and the fact that they are stunning, I'm looking at getting a ghost mantis. Nearer the time, I'm sure I'll be peppering the forums with newbie questions. But for now, I'm enjoying reading through the boards - clearly a knowledgeable lot here.
Just thought I'd post here as suggested in the forum subheading. I'm Nathan, from north Wales. I'm looking at getting my first mantid soon - as soon as the local shop gets them back in (when I went yesterday, they had chameleons, centipedes, coral, vipers, even a sodding caiman - everything but mantids).
I asked my landlord if I could get some sort of small animal, "or a fishtank", as I was "really missing having animals around". He responded "Hi Nathan. Fish are fine but no animals please". Given his refusal to consider fish animals, I figured that gave me quite a lot of scope with regards to what I COULD keep in the flat. I don't have the time to set up an aquarium right now, though that's very much on the long-term agenda as I love keeping fish. So I looked at other options.
I'd never considered mantids as pets before. This is mostly down to the fact that I always assumed they were expensive and complicated to keep. As a kid, I always liked them - I remember seeing one in a pet shop when I was about seven, and being fascinated. When I was 20 I was on holiday in Austria, near Vienna where they have hot Summers, and was gobsmacked to see mantises living wild in the village we were staying in - I'd always assumed they were a strictly tropical family. I was even more shocked to see one flying, something else I didn't know they could do.
Eight years later, and I have a tank, now I just need a mantis. Owing to their supposed ease of keeping and the fact that they are stunning, I'm looking at getting a ghost mantis. Nearer the time, I'm sure I'll be peppering the forums with newbie questions. But for now, I'm enjoying reading through the boards - clearly a knowledgeable lot here.
