Preparing for Nymphs

[Eoullis]

I am so excited to get some mantids it's really hard to not order them up! However, I made the mistake of not preparing when I got into Betta's a few years back and ended up with a big mess! I don't want to do that again.

I wanted mantids that were really crazy looking but, after examing my soon to be insect closet and lack of experience (and tight budget), I've opted to go somewhat simpler. I'm going to go with the African mantid Sphodromantis centralis. From what I've read they do well at room tempeture and humidity is not as big an issue as it is with other species. I like their compact plump bodies and their aggressive hunting style and hey, a mantis from Africa is still pretty exotic, at leat I think so.

My setup will be in a small closet in my computer room. The closet has a sliding door that will help keep in some heat as I have lots of large drafty windows. Once, spring is here and it starts warming up I'll move them to a bookshelf by the windows for some fresh air and sunlight.

I plan on starting small (3-5 nymphs) just to see how it goes. I know you guys are laughing at such a small amount but, I think for me this is the best route. Of course, if I'm successful and really enjoy it, I'll expand. I just don't want to pull out a stack of cash and destoy a bunch of insects in a fit of want and desire.

So, I've cleaned out my space top to bottom and I'm ready to start building. I'm going to order some 320z cups with cloth lids, excelsior, mite paper, insect screen (for building larger cages later on) and a ff culture(?) later today.

I pretty much down with the basics, but I have some questions regarding heat/light source and my food source.

1) Since they will be in a closet will I need some type of special bulb for my mantids...both for heat and sun simulation?

2) It's pretty cold here in southeastern Pennsylvania and probably won't warm up till late april so I won't be able to trap little fliers for my nymphs. I read some of the threads about ff cultures and I'm a little uneasy about it. I have to feed my nymphs but, I don't want to waste hundreds of ff's in the process....Fly larvae is obviously the right choice but the nymphs may be too small for flies......ANy suggestions???

Thanks greatly for any help. By, the way I plan to order my stuff from mantisplace.com, I'm not sure what size their African nymphs are (haven't got that far yet), so if you see this hibiscusmile...Help!!! lol.

 

[batsofchaos]

Mantids don't require UVA or UVB light, so a regular old bulb will do. They do need a light/dark cycle for hunting, so leaving them always dark/always lit isn't the best option. If you need the extra heat and need to keep the doors closed on the closet, get one light for day and one for night and just switch them out in the morning and evening. If you don't need to keep it closed, a night lamp on all the time will do the warming job and light can come in from the rest of the room.

If your mantids are sized to eat fruit flies, you might be stuck getting a culture and wasting a lot of flies. Depending on the size of the mantids, you might be able to feed them pinhead crickets from a pet store, but if pinheads are too big for them you're stuck with a fly culture. It is indeed a bit of a waste, but that might be something you need to do.

 

[Rick]

I am so excited to get some mantids it's really hard to not order them up! However, I made the mistake of not preparing when I got into Betta's a few years back and ended up with a big mess! I don't want to do that again.I wanted mantids that were really crazy looking but, after examing my soon to be insect closet and lack of experience (and tight budget), I've opted to go somewhat simpler. I'm going to go with the African mantid Sphodromantis centralis. From what I've read they do well at room tempeture and humidity is not as big an issue as it is with other species. I like their compact plump bodies and their aggressive hunting style and hey, a mantis from Africa is still pretty exotic, at leat I think so.

My setup will be in a small closet in my computer room. The closet has a sliding door that will help keep in some heat as I have lots of large drafty windows. Once, spring is here and it starts warming up I'll move them to a bookshelf by the windows for some fresh air and sunlight.

I plan on starting small (3-5 nymphs) just to see how it goes. I know you guys are laughing at such a small amount but, I think for me this is the best route. Of course, if I'm successful and really enjoy it, I'll expand. I just don't want to pull out a stack of cash and destoy a bunch of insects in a fit of want and desire.

So, I've cleaned out my space top to bottom and I'm ready to start building. I'm going to order some 320z cups with cloth lids, excelsior, mite paper, insect screen (for building larger cages later on) and a ff culture(?) later today.

I pretty much down with the basics, but I have some questions regarding heat/light source and my food source.

1) Since they will be in a closet will I need some type of special bulb for my mantids...both for heat and sun simulation?

2) It's pretty cold here in southeastern Pennsylvania and probably won't warm up till late april so I won't be able to trap little fliers for my nymphs. I read some of the threads about ff cultures and I'm a little uneasy about it. I have to feed my nymphs but, I don't want to waste hundreds of ff's in the process....Fly larvae is obviously the right choice but the nymphs may be too small for flies......ANy suggestions???

Thanks greatly for any help. By, the way I plan to order my stuff from mantisplace.com, I'm not sure what size their African nymphs are (haven't got that far yet), so if you see this hibiscusmile...Help!!! lol.

They will need light but a special light is not needed. As far as fruit flies go, you can make your own cultures. I personally stay away from homemade mediums and insted buy commerical medium from carolina.com usually. It may be more expensive but it has mold inhibitor built in. You will need to feed flies, not fly larvae as that wouldn't work. Fruit flies are so easy. I recommend buying a culture and then you just take a 32 oz cup and add about a half inch of medium, a pinch of yeast, and water. Dump the flies in and let them do their thing. You will want the culture to be started at least a week before you get the mantids. Some places sell just the flies to put into your own culture or you can get a started culture.

As far as the other stuff, I don't think you need to worry about mite paper or excelsior. I can't stand excelsior in fruit fly cultures. Some places pack it in there really tight and it is a pain. I use a bit of fiberglass screen in my cultures or nothing at all. I have not seen a difference either way. This really isn't a difficult hobby. You're making a good choice for a first mantis. Be advised that that species when adult will need large food. Crickets or roaches. Put each nymph in its own 32 oz container. Don't add any sticks or anything as they can interfere with molting. They will hang from the lid to molt. Put in enough fruit flies every other day to keep the abdomen plump. Once they outgrow the ff's you can switch to bluebottle or houseflies. I don't really use houseflies but instead to right to bb's. Mist the inside of the enclosure lightly once a day.

 

[Eoullis]

This really isn't a difficult hobby. You're making a good choice for a first mantis. Be advised that that species when adult will need large food. Crickets or roaches.

Thanks Rick! I feel better already. The larger food I have no problem with, in fact, I enjoy watching crickets. Weird huh?(actually with this crowd thats not weird at all). I'm gonna check out carolina.com. Thanks again.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Hello You! sorry I just seen the post, I use a corrulaged cardboard, (spelling wrong) in my cultures, and only put excelsior in the top of it for shipping and only shipping. I sell the cultures and the culture medium on my site too and the cardboard. The nymphs are big enough for house flies and bluebottle flies! No need for the culture!

oh ps. so order whenever u r ready!

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I plan on starting small (3-5 nymphs) just to see how it goes. I know you guys are laughing at such a small amount but, I think for me this is the best route.

Heh, no laughing here. Personally I only keep 1-3 mantises at a time since I like being able to relax and enjoy only have a few mantises to care for at once.

 

[yen_saw]

Start with one or two speciesand small number of mantis is the right way to start. You have done your homework well you'll be alright. I remember starting with P. agrionina and S. viridis but within 3 months my collection increased by 3 fold :lol:

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Good luck with your new buddies! They will be just that, as well, buddies! I have 4 African mantises myself, they are currently L5 and are still on fruit flies... but could definitely take a house fly. Fruit flies will be great for them until they are L6, probably, when then you can probably feed them every few days a small cricket or a large fly.

At L5, if their abdomens are skinny, they can take a small cricket... although I doubt the ones I got from PetCo are pinhead sized. I might go out some day and see if I can find a smaller sized cricket, and the ones I have now will be lucky and kept as pets - cricket babies grow too, so why not?

I started the mantis hobby with wild caught mantises I found outside. I graduated to 4 African mantises, they are about an inch long and have provided me a large amount of joy! I don't really find it necessary to provide a heat source, even in this cold weather (I'm north-west of Reading, PA myself, by the way!), since the mantises are situated next to my computer/space-heater (I have a table top fan next to it to keep it from overheating when playing Crysis... the video cards I have once reached a temperature of 85 degrees... Celsius!)... but it won't hurt.

Good idea not jumping right to crazy looking mantises like Idolomantis, I don't know if it is true for all the neat and colorful ones, but they tend to be harder to take care of. Personally, I am waiting until around May to probably start getting into flower or orchid mantises... possibly Idolomantis diabolica! For now, African mantises will keep me company for a long time as well as the Giant Asians I have coming tomorrow.

You can also find fruit fly cultures at Petco and Petsmart. The ones at Petsmart that I get are Drosophila hydei, slightly larger and in smaller vials. If the African mantises are L4 or L5, they'll start having trouble picking up the tiny D. melanogaster, but the hydei are still easy to grab and provide more nutrition.

Also, the containers your mantises ship in, if you are putting them in new containers right away, can be used to store a small amount of fruit flies (or a cricket) for feeding. Taking fruit flies right from a culture can be a pain (although the D. hydei culture has a foam stopper that makes it somewhat easier to grab one at a time) and you will have escapees... lol. The small vials my mantises came in are great for crickets too, since they like to move around a lot... picking one out, putting it in the vial and taking the time to take the lid off without any risk to the mantis is a good idea, then just pop the cricket in and watch the mantis enjoy its dinner! ^_^

 

[Rick]

If the nymphs are too big for fruit flies as Rebecca said then dont' worry about them. Get some house or blue bottle flies ship with the mantids.

 

[hibiscusmile]

He took my advice Rick and did order them, so they will have a good supply of food!