Am very impressed that your Ghost mantis lived for 15 months. Not sure i could handle a loss though like that, she must have been a real member of the family by then. Minty seems so much more fragile since his molt into adulthood especially with his bad leg. Gave him some honey today. Since his last molt his wings and eyes are a bright green rather than tan, just like Honey Mantis.
There are black widows in abundance here. Havent seen any brown recluses. Just the pesky steatodas everywhere...one was crawling on my arm earlier when i woke up on the sofa! I take them outside and let them go. They are so prolific, especially since there are a few tiny crickets who always get loose. I guess they think it is like a salad bar. The pholcuses have fascinating mating and prey catching strategies but are cannibalistic and cant bite people. I love the wolf and jumping spiders due to their increased intelligence. As with frogs, i think spider species who move around and who are not sit and wait predators are smarter.
Am hoping to find Florida whip spiders at some point in the next year for sale but want to get several because i hear they are social. Also will try to find some native walking sticks as i have seen them in this part of the state. Dont think they are as smart as the mantises though. Again, since they just eat vegetation, they do not have to be as intelligent or fast as a creature who eats insects. But would like to learn about them.
Yeah my Ghost was always waiting for prey, or ready to come out and explore, and was a hard loss. Minty should learn to use his larger body and bad leg in time, usually in 1-2 weeks into adulthood there is a vast marked improvement of their condition/abilities.
Speaking of their eyes if you put him in a darkened room for an hour or so, than have a look at them they should appear much darker in color.
Sounds like you know the cause of the steatoda invasion, and thankfully don't bother you especial with them crawling around during a nap. Perhaps the Wolf and Jumping spiders are more intelligent, but either way at least are more active pets.
Peter offers both species on his website (although out of stock now), the
Phrynus marginemaculatus and
Damon diadema. If he is still out when you want to get some, send him a message and ask when he expects to get them back in stock.
Walking sticks are great, but from my limited experience they are like mindless drones (of course some individuals do stand out from others, and I imagine different species will vary). They will flee from water, act like a stick/dead when frightened, sit around barely moving most of the time, and such. When placed on a hand they will act like a stick/dead until they give up on the effort and continually try to flee until placed back into their habitat - often being so clumsy that they will easily fall repetitively during their attempt to flee.
For their redeeming qualities I will leave that up to you to discover.
