FeistyMcGrudle
Well-known member
Hey everyone!
I am a longtime mantis enthusiast, but a novice mantis keeper. I had received four l4-l5 Ghost Mantises a week and a half ago and I am hoping to get some advice and feedback on 1) How well I am keeping my mantises and 2) the gender of them. My terrariums consist of some soil at the bottom, some twigs with dead leaves I procured from my yard, and cheesecloth over the top to keep the fruit flies from escaping. I have a hygrometer/thermometer and the temperature ranges from 68-78 degrees F, and the humidity I always keep between 50-90%. I use a spray bottle filled with distilled water and, with the dry climate we're located, mist the enclosures at least twice per day and water the soil about three times per week.
I am currently housing two mantises per enclosure and I believe each enclosure is 12"x 8"x 8". They seem to be sticking to their corners and are content chomping on the fruit fly that gets too close. I have been loading each enclosure with about 50 fruit flies every other day and I have some Blue Bottle spikes that should be here by Friday. As soon as the BB's get here I plan on letting some pupate. I feel I made a mistake by not getting larger feeders sooner, but I didn't do my research and just assumed the local Petco had something or I could go feeder hunting in my back yard/garage (except its the middle of winter, Feisty...).
Overall they seem to be doing alright. I have kept other bugs before, and up until recently housed a bark scorpion that I found in my garage, for over a year. I also housed a giant wolf spider that I found for about six months. The mantises are kept in a fairly climate controlled room due to some other projects involving indoor horticulture. As you might piece together from the pictures and names of my mantises (providing you are privvy to the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), I am hoping to mate them and try hatching some oothecas.
So how am I doing? Do these fellas stand a chance? Is there anything major I am overlooking with the way I am housing them? I believe the very dark mantises are males and the green ones are females. I also believe I have male/female set of l4 and a male/female set of l5. I know the pictures aren't the greatest, but could anyone help verify this? Either way, thanks for reading!
I am a longtime mantis enthusiast, but a novice mantis keeper. I had received four l4-l5 Ghost Mantises a week and a half ago and I am hoping to get some advice and feedback on 1) How well I am keeping my mantises and 2) the gender of them. My terrariums consist of some soil at the bottom, some twigs with dead leaves I procured from my yard, and cheesecloth over the top to keep the fruit flies from escaping. I have a hygrometer/thermometer and the temperature ranges from 68-78 degrees F, and the humidity I always keep between 50-90%. I use a spray bottle filled with distilled water and, with the dry climate we're located, mist the enclosures at least twice per day and water the soil about three times per week.
I am currently housing two mantises per enclosure and I believe each enclosure is 12"x 8"x 8". They seem to be sticking to their corners and are content chomping on the fruit fly that gets too close. I have been loading each enclosure with about 50 fruit flies every other day and I have some Blue Bottle spikes that should be here by Friday. As soon as the BB's get here I plan on letting some pupate. I feel I made a mistake by not getting larger feeders sooner, but I didn't do my research and just assumed the local Petco had something or I could go feeder hunting in my back yard/garage (except its the middle of winter, Feisty...).
Overall they seem to be doing alright. I have kept other bugs before, and up until recently housed a bark scorpion that I found in my garage, for over a year. I also housed a giant wolf spider that I found for about six months. The mantises are kept in a fairly climate controlled room due to some other projects involving indoor horticulture. As you might piece together from the pictures and names of my mantises (providing you are privvy to the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), I am hoping to mate them and try hatching some oothecas.
So how am I doing? Do these fellas stand a chance? Is there anything major I am overlooking with the way I am housing them? I believe the very dark mantises are males and the green ones are females. I also believe I have male/female set of l4 and a male/female set of l5. I know the pictures aren't the greatest, but could anyone help verify this? Either way, thanks for reading!
I love that show! 
![IMG_20190121_161331[1].jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/mantidforum/data/attach/8/8565-IMG-20190121-161331-1-.jpg "IMG_20190121_161331[1].jpg")
![IMG_20190118_193835[1].jpg](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/mantidforum/data/attach/8/8566-IMG-20190118-193835-1-.jpg "IMG_20190118_193835[1].jpg")
