Seeking Help and/or suggestions

[Sen]

Hello I'm new to this forum and am seeking tips and advice. I have three Chinese Mantids, I got them from an ootheca I bought at a gardening store. They currently measure approximately 1 1/2", 2 1/8", 1 1/2" in length. I recently set up and transferred them into their current enclosure, a 20 x 11 x10" terrarium divided into sections with lexan. I have a coconut fiber substrate, with clippings from a tree to give them something to stand on.

Anyway now that I've explained what I have, I was wondering if anyone could give me any suggestions? I'm having trouble feeding them as they tend to stay at the top of the terrarium, they rarely come across the crickets I have in with them, and so don't eat as much as they did in their first enclosure(mesh cube). I've tried giving them small moths, but unfortunatly for what ever reason their are very few moths at nigh right know, in fact the only insect that I see with any frequency are some sort of digging bee in our backyard, I'm afraid to give one of these due to the possibility of a mantis getting stung. Anyone have any suggestions on feeding them? I welcome any and all questions and critiques of my set up as I'd like to improve it.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn16/Na...ato/mantis1.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn16/Na...ato/mantis2.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn16/Na...ato/mantis3.jpg

 

[The_Asa]

Almost any insect under their size is fair game, try looking under some rocks for food. If you don't want to search for food, you can find some cheap flies for sale online, Look especially at the Other Feedback forum which has suppliers such as Mantis place, Grubco, and Spiderpharm

Your setup is very nice, can't see any problems besides it being an inch or two too big. Where did you obtain it?

 

[Sen]

The crickets I have in with them are well under there size, I know there capable of eating them as one has hence the one being 2 1/8" long. I don't have a clue where I got the tank, I've had it for a very long time, the dividers I cut my self.

 

[JennMantis]

My Chinese mantis likes to eat regular flies that I find outside (thanks to my dog's poop lol) Maybe you can try leaving some food outside during the day and catch them with a net. I collect them with plastic baggies (I'm getting pretty good at it!) or sometimes I use a butterly net and then stick them into the critter keeper that I have my mantis in. If you find that they're too zippy and might fly out, you could put them in the freezer for a min or two to slow them down and then dump them into the enclosure before they warm back up. I also catch crane flies and moths that come out during the day.

 

[Sen]

Maybe you can try leaving some food outside during the day and catch them with a net... If you find that they're too zippy and might fly out, you could put them in the freezer for a min or two to slow them down and then dump them into the enclosure before they warm back up... I also catch crane flies and moths that come out during the day.

I'll try the fly idea.

Unfortunatly craneflies aren't around at the moment, I stopped seeing them a few months back, they would be perfect otherwise.

An idea I had recently is to put a piece of mesh on the interior of the terrarium that faces the wall, that way the crickets will have a way to climb up, that how my mantises got most of their food in the mesh container they used to be in.

 

[The_Asa]

That's a good idea, although, as the crickets get larger, they will easily chew through the mesh.

 

[Sen]

That's a good idea, although, as the crickets get larger, they will easily chew through the mesh.

Not a a problem even if they chew through it the glass behind the mesh will prevent them from escaping. I think I'm going to give this a try when time permits, and I find something to move the mantises into temporarily.

 

[Hypoponera]

Go to MantisPlace.com and buy some house fly and blue bottle fly pupa! Set up a small plastic tank for each type of fly and dump the pupa in. They should start emerging in a day or two. then you can remove some and drop them in with the mantids. Rebecca, the owner of MantisPlace, should be able to give you great advice and she usually gets flies to me in NM in 3 days or less!

 

[Rick]

That's a good idea, although, as the crickets get larger, they will easily chew through the mesh.

No they won't. That looks like metal mesh. You may just have to add more crickets. I use similiar enclosures and feed almost nothing but crickets. Make sure the crickets can climb up the stick to get to the top. When your mantids get hungry enough they will go down and get the crickets at the bottom. I have used that substrate and it dries quickly so make sure you moisten it lightly every other day.

The larger the enclosure the less contact with food the mantids will have. Bluebotle flies are a good idea for awhile but it takes a lot of them to sustain a full grown female of a large species.

 

[The_Asa]

No they won't. That looks like metal mesh. You may just have to add more crickets. I use similiar enclosures and feed almost nothing but crickets. Make sure the crickets can climb up the stick to get to the top. When your mantids get hungry enough they will go down and get the crickets at the bottom. I have used that substrate and it dries quickly so make sure you moisten it lightly every other day.

Senon and I were talking about the mesh he was planning to put onto the sides of the cage so the crickets could climb up to the mantids. I assumed that was going to be plastic.

 

[johnny 5]

if crickets are all you have why not just put one and a mantid in a smaller container to feed them? that way theres no way tha mantid can miss them.

 

[Sen]

Senon and I were talking about the mesh he was planning to put onto the sides of the cage so the crickets could climb up to the mantids. I assumed that was going to be plastic.

The mesh I have is a very fine mesh, I have no idea what its made of but I have a lot of it so if they chew through it I'll just replace it.

if crickets are all you have why not just put one and a mantid in a smaller container to feed them? that way theres no way tha mantid can miss them.

I've tried this with only minor success, I'll put them in with a cricket before going to class, some times they will eat but a lot of the time they will just climb to the top and do nothing. They are eating in their enclosure, just not very often, I saw one last night standing up towards the top of the glass eating a large cricket, I don't know if the cricket climbed the plant or if the mantis dragged it up there.

 

[idolomantis]

if crickets are all you have why not just put one and a mantid in a smaller container to feed them? that way theres no way tha mantid can miss them.

disagreed. i want mine to do something for there food. not just put them in a small cup and hold a cricket in front... that,s so boring.(exept for injured namtids.)