Oh!

[bassist]

well I have only a hanful of net cages, so I try to use recycled containers for smaller mantids, maybe some lid ventilation would help.

My suggestion:

http://www.mantisplace.com/insectcups.html#32ozcup

/thread

 

[ABbuggin]

but it doesn't affect females!

Seriously? Ventilation is very important for any invertebrate. As stated before, without it, mold will develop, the air will be stale and less healthy, it will be too humid and depending on the ambient temperature, no vents could make them too warm.

 

[agent A]

Seriously? Ventilation is very important for any invertebrate. As stated before, without it, mold will develop, the air will be stale and less healthy, it will be too humid and depending on the ambient temperature, no vents could make them too warm.

so that's why mold grows a lot in the cages!

 

[agent A]

I will get ventilation

 

[ABbuggin]

so that's why mold grows a lot in the cages!

 

[massaman]

i may not be in this hobby for as long as alot of people in here but i for one know how to properly give a mantis what it needs even if i have to resort to critter keepers or cut up juice bottles and just top off the bottles with material that allows air to pass through!Its not rocket science and i am sure you can teach a chimpanzee how to do this!

 

[AmandaLynn]

well I have only a hanful of net cages, so I try to use recycled containers for smaller mantids, maybe some lid ventilation would help.

I think lid ventilation is a good idea. Not only to prevent mold, but with out it your mantises are pretty much in 100% humidity all the time.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Of all the things that we try to control in our mantids' environment, food, temperature, light, humidity and air circulation. The last is easily the most important in my opinion.

Here's a simple test that you can do to demonstrate this, Alex. Let a few (surplus) L2 mantises loose in yr room and try to forget about them; no spritzing, feeding or tucking in at night. I do this regularly, by accident, when nymphs escape from net cages when I'm not looking. I have had a number of 4th/5th instar mantises show up in the bug room, asians, shields, limbata, Chinese, looking as fit and healthy as their siblings raised in pots. They were never fed or spritzed, but they did fine because they had air circulation that was close to ideal. They tend to live in the bug room because that's where most of the escaped flies are and because they like to laugh at their siblings who are locked up in cages. I'm not suggesting that this is the way to raise yr mantids. For one thing, I don't know how many of the escapees die, just as they would in the wild, but I recommend, like everybody else., that you provide as much circulating air for your mantids as possible, and since you have already bought stuff from Hibiscusmile, I would suggest, with Bassist, that you check out her site for some pots and lids.

Good luck!