Opinions on the enclosure for my L2(?) idolomantis

[rferrera]

Hello,

This is my first time posting here so excuse my poor etiquette. I got my first idolomantis a little over a week ago, the first few days of which it stayed in the small plastic cup with a mesh lid it came in. I've been messing around with this soup container to make a temporary enclosure while it's still so small.

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. In the pictures you'll see I'm using coconut husk as a substrate, along with some silk leaves along the sides and a stick near the lid to help with molting. With the 60 watt lamp the temp stays around 90° during the day and the humidity around 40%. The mesh on top is just plastic window screening.

Ive skimmed through some of the idolomantis guides on here and they've helped a lot, but if anyone has any tips for my setup it'd be greatly appreciated

 

[Connor]

Looks good!. As it gets older you will have to start gluing some grippy branches(lilac or birch) to the top of the enclosure for molting as idolos have a hard time molting of mesh or anything other than natural sticks.

 

[rferrera]

Thanks! I was just reading about adding the branches for molting last night, I figured adding the stick in the middle might help but my mantis hung from it for about 5 minutes before returning to the mesh 

 

[Connor]

Yeah they like to hang out on the mesh for some reason but when mine molt they sit if the sticks for better grip. Best of luck to you with your idolo!