Seeking Advice and other such Inquiries

[Tiz-Paradoxa]

Ok!

I've been putzing around trying to think of how to start a thread like this, I am very determined to be as educated and prepared as I can be before I look at potential sellers.

I'm going to be posting all my questions and concerns here on this thread. Whatever information or advice any deems relevant would be greatly appreciated. There most likely will be answers to some of my questions on other threads but this is kinda me being needy and wanting all my answers located in one convenient spot.

So I suppose my first question is-- Where do I begin?

There is a lot of information on this forum and it has me a little overwhelmed. The caresheets are wonderful and I plan on looking over the ones that are relevant to whatever Mantis I end up with. But I do better with lists.

What do I need to get first, supply wise?

Should I figure out what kind of Mantis I want before I buy anything for it?

What species of mantis are the easiest and most likely to succeed for a first time owner?

All opinions and advice welcomed!!

 

[Paradoxica]

Begin with picking the species you want to start with. There are many great beginner species, most of our native species and easier exotics like Creobroter Sp. are all good options but as your username and mine would allude to, I have to suggest ghost mantids

You'll need fruitflies (assuming you buy a young nymph) on hand BEFORE your mantis arrives. As for enclosures it's up to you, anything from a deli cup with a mesh lid to a small terrarium to a modified old pretzel jar could work.

 

[Tiz-Paradoxa]

Would this be a good jar? It's a 44oz pub mix jug from cosco. I figure it is a bit big for a nymph (babies are called nymphs right?) so this would be the adults terrarium. What sort of mesh is best? Where can I find it? And do deli's just give away cups?

I think a Ghost Mantis would be rad but they are very intimidating. Gorgeous but so strange. I also heard molting complications can happen because of their shape. How likely is that?

 

[Shadow]

It's probably low provide sticks or mesh for better gripping. I raised a ghost all the way to adult with one long stick

 

[PookaDotted]

As a person who is also ne to the hobby (I don't even have any mantis yet) I would agree with getting fruit flies before you get nymphs, and research how to properly rake care of said fruit flies to prevent mites, and how to culture them on your own once you get a starter culture. I would also suggest buying your mesh from any fabric store, its basically just like sheer curtain fabric, and you cut the lid, and use HOT GLUE (Hot glue doesn't re-liquify when it gets wet, like if you spray a trerrarium for humidity or for drinking water. You will need sterile sticks as well, and make sure you hot glue those in place `to so your mantis doesn't fall by accident.

I went through a bunch of the pinned topics, and wrote down all the information I could find on feeding, breeding, ooth care, feeding regimen, and general husbandry all into a little notebook.

Also figure out what other feeders you want to give your mantids if they grow too big to feed fruit flies. Every deli store that I went to wouldn't sell just the deli cups to me, I ended up buying 250 32oz deli cups online, which ended up being about 80$ Places like costco and wholesale places may sell the deli cups as well, but I don't have anything like that where I live, and I couldn't justify buying a 60$ costco membership to buy deli cups lol.

The easiest species is T.sinensis Or chinese mantis, but there are so many of them, and they often eat the native species, so if you're planning on releasing them if you have too many, i'd suggest raising the native species in your area. I am not planning on releasing any T.sinensis, but i'm using it as a starter mantis to learn the ropes, and then I want to breed the native species here and hopefully repopulate my area since they're endangered.

You have to also look at your areas natural heat and humidity and compare it with the species you want to keep. If the room you are keeping them in has a forced air vent for heat, you may want to look into a humidifier. Here is the list of basic supplies that I aquired/bought for where I live (A canadian desert lol)

-250 32oz deli cups
-Sheer curtains (From the old people that used to own my home lol) That I am using for mesh
-Pack of paper towels
-vinegar for cleaning purposes
-Sticks from my pear tree that I plan on letting dry out this summer in the heat to use as perches
-Fruit fly culture powder
-Excelsior (or coffee filter is that's what you prefer)
-Calendar to keep track of molting etc.
-hot glue gun with glue sticks
-box cutter knife (to cut the deli cups before hot gluing the mesh on)
-Big plastic containers for future breeders to live in (32oz is just too small)
-Test tube vials with sponge stoppers (for feeding the mantids)
-Spray bottle
-Big rubbermaid tote ready for breeding dubia (vent cut, mesh glued, cardboard egg flats, dishes, under the bin heater)
-Heat lamps (It gets cold in my basement)
-UVB lights
-Bee pollen (Locally sourced Just for extra vitamins, it hasn't been proven or disproven to benefit the mantids, so i'd like to give it as an option)
-Honey (Locally sourced, just like bee pollen, not a necessity, but I'd like to use it to hand train and as a treat)
-small daily record book

 

[Tiz-Paradoxa]

Thank you very much Pooka! That definitely gives me a few ideas on an enclosure!

 

[Falconerguy]

As per my profile picture, a ghost mantis was my first mantis as well! I'd love to give you some pointers!

Ghosts absolutely love flying insects. That is all mine will eat, save spiders. For his enclosure, I have a medium size tupperware with the a large hole cut in the lid replaced with mesh. I use a paper towel substrate and have three sticks hot glued across at various heights. He seems to do very well in this.

I usually go out and catch house flies for him to snack on, if not, things like craneflies or garden spiders or even smaller orb weavers. Something frustrating to keep in mind about ghosts is that they are picky and slow eaters. They will only attack prey when it comes to them. It will never move to take its meal. This can sometimes be remedied by placing the prey down next to the ghost. Sometimes. Another solution is to have a small container to place the ghost when it is feeding time.

Be sure to mist twice a week and keep him well fed. A heat lamp is not necessary, but recommended, as without it, the ghost will take a very long time to fully mature.

 

[Tiz-Paradoxa]

Thanks for the advice. I think I have decided on ghosts. Initially I wanted a Shield Mantis because they were large and seemed like species I could handle easily. But Ghosts are so gorgeous, and communal! (Something I didn't know till yesterday!)

I plan on beginning to buy up supplies next weekend (payday!) but a few more questions.

Where can I find fruit fly cultures?

Should I buy forceps for feeding purposes?

I've seen a few sites that offer enclosure kits, would that be a wise investment?

I also have no idea how to keep fruit flies so I'll have to look that up as well but that's not a problem.

 

[PookaDotted]

You should be able to buy a beginner culture online. You tube videos helped me a lot in terms of fruit fly culture creation and all that. They're all basically the same save for home made ingredients ones. I ordered repashy fruit fly culture mix for my guys because I was told it's the best.

As far as kits go, it's more cost effective to make your own. All you need is mesh, a glue gun, and then plastic containers in appropriate sizes. Usually if you buy stuff like noodles, candy, Tupperware etc, you an just cut a portion and use mesh. That's what I'm doing for y breeding adults. I'll be using a ten gallon with some sticks for a breeding tank.

 

[Tiz-Paradoxa]

So I went out and collected some sticks from my yard, they are sturdy and textured. I put them at different levels but it feels so sparse. Any advice on what else I could do to make it a safe and comfortable enclosure?

 

[hibiscusmile]

Those are fine.

 

[Falconerguy]

That is perfect! Maybe hot glue some mesh of some sorts to the side?

 

[DinehCaveman]

Your local reptile store will have fruit flies and fruit fly food. I use Repashy's super fly. extremely easy to make, just hot or boiling water mixed with the appropriate amount of food powder, let cool add excelsior or coffee filters, sprinkle in some flies in about 2 weeks there will be maggots then pupae then flies, make another batch about 3-4 weeks later then repeat. I cut a small hole in the lid and use a sponge plug, then tap out the fruit flies into mantid enclosure.

 

[DinehCaveman]

This is my pretzel jar mod. Cut the lid and a big vent window on the front, and hot glued mesh from fabric store.

 

[MantidBro]

Hey just thought I'd offer some advice, not to sound rude or anything, but be careful when it comes to "crowding" the container, because it can end up causing a mismolt. It's best to have as little as possible to be sure they don't decide to molt from a stick to low to the ground, or if they are molting from above, that they aren't hitting a stick below during the process.

 

[Aryia]

Here's my input:

For food: The size of the mantis matters more than anything. If you are going to buy them at L2/L3, they will still be taking fruitflies which means you need to buy a culture. For fruitfly cultures, always order ahead of time and make sure the cultures are viable. Some vendors sell awful cultures which crash or don't even make it alive. It's awkward having a bunch of L2 mantises with nothing to feed them because (depending on how you keep them) they may eat each other. Larger nymphs will eat anything from houseflies and blue bottle flies which you can buy in spike or pupa form online or at fishing stores. From then on, for the larger species, you might need crickets, roaches, larger moths. Which brings me to my next point.

How many mantises are you thinking of keeping? Are you just keeping a couple for display and for fun? Or do you actually want to become really serious in breeding them?

A couple mantises: You won't need a load of containers and large feeder cultures. What I do for my adult mantises is I house them in dollar tree surefresh plastic containers. I use the hotgluegun to make a bunch of holes on two sides, mesh them, mesh whatever else and mesh the lid. I hotglue some sticks flat onto the lid, but not into the containers since some mantises may choose a low point to molt and will mismolt because of it. Though I guess for display purposes a 10G aquarium with a screen lid might be better : ) If you're only keeping a couple mantises you won't need giant cultures of feeders either (exception here is fruit flies because you can't really get them in non-culture form), but any feeder from crickets and roaches are probably cheaper not to attempt to breed. (Some are also pretty messy while breeding).

For large-scale keeping: Unless you want to throw a lot of money in I would suggest you to start your own feeder cultures. Fly pupae are better to get online, the breeding process is gross and smells literally like something died. Bulk deli 32 oz cups will be fine for 2" mantis species, but for larger species you will need enclosures larger than that. I use the 120 oz from dollartree and sometimes the 180 oz ones. A cheaper way to make a lot of containers is actually to buy 16 oz plastic drinking cups (I get the ones from Walmart) and make enclosures out of those. They will last most species to L5/L6 at least until you have to switch to 32 oz containers. I make all the enclosures as I go, for the first mantis you get just make sure you have something to house them in and it looks like you do : )

Other supplies: Some species may require a heat lamp. All will require you to get something like a misting/spray bottle. Also get some DI/springwater to mist them with, depending on your area tap water may be bad for them. I have always used springwater but some members tell me DI is better.

Mesh: Aluminum/Fiberglass mesh is what I use. I order it in large rolls online, it's sold under "insect screen". Aluminum and fiberglass netting will let through smaller hydei fruitflies and all melanogaster fruitflies though so it's a hassle for younger nymphs. I just use papertowel instead, and yep even for airflow I am using papertowel. Fabric mesh can also be bought at local stores at very cheap prices. Keep in mind that some mantis species (like the cryptic ones) cannot climb glass/plastic and therefore you will need to mesh the sides for them. For other species I don't bother.

Sicks/decorations: I'm pretty paranoid so I bake everything in the oven (forgot the temperature) for 30 minutes before I use them for mantises. Of course, only things that can be heat-treated!

For your other questions:

1) I will pm about where I get my fruitfly cultures. I ran into some trouble on another site where they didn't want "promoting" of a certain business zzz

2) I tried forceps/tweezers. I just use my fingers now. It's too much of a hassle for me trying to pick them up with tiny tweezers and it's hard not to squish a fly/roach which ends up in them puking stuff all over.

3) I do everything DIY cause it's a lot more cost-efficient so if you can work a hotglue gun I would encourage that over enclosure kits. That way you can make an enclosure you like : )

Hope this helped, and shoot if you have more questions

 

[Orin]

Thanks for the advice. I think I have decided on ghosts. Initially I wanted a Shield Mantis because they were large and seemed like species I could handle easily. But Ghosts are so gorgeous, and communal! (Something I didn't know till yesterday!)

Remember that Ghosts are communal-ish. I'd suggest the Rhombodera you were thinking of for a beginner, they are a lot hardier and stronger overall. Some might argue ghosts are easier but certainly not when it comes to feeding. Of course I'd also suggest checking out a book. I wouldn't worry about fruit flies and various enclosures unless you're planning to start out breeding them.