The best matieral for molting

[Colorcham427]

I am looking for the best of the best.

I use livemonarch's net cages.

Are there any live plants or fake vines that are ideal for providing mantises with great grip?

"Bio-vines" are extremely grippy, these are used for reptiles. I use them for my chameleons, the texture on them are very grippy... Not so sure if this will be a good thing for tiny mantis claws?

I like the looks of the plant in this video:

Not sure, but it looks like the same plant in Yen Saw's albulm with his Idolomantises! ????

ANy suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[Rick]

What's wrong with the cage surface? The live monarch net cages are great for mantids to hang from. If you're looking for something else to put in there I personally walk out my back door and get sticks, grasses, etc.

 

[davestreasurechest]

What's wrong with the cage surface? The live monarch net cages are great for mantids to hang from. If you're looking for something else to put in there I personally walk out my back door and get sticks, grasses, etc.

I agree that looks like what they did,just use some clipping from the back yard or use fake plastic plants from hobby lobby or like store,thats what i do

 

[PhilinYuma]

What's wrong with the cage surface? The live monarch net cages are great for mantids to hang from. If you're looking for something else to put in there I personally walk out my back door and get sticks, grasses, etc.

Yes, of course! In the wild, that's all that mantids have to climb on, and they do fine on it. Katnapper once sent me some artificial flowers and stems and they work too. The only time that you might get into trouble is when you use obviously artificial materials that their tarsi were not built to manage.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I like real twigs and those from fruit trees are great, and dried grasses.

Nature is best.

 

[Lil stinkpot]

Find a friend with a cork oak tree, and ask if you can help prune it. :-D

My tarantula, bluebelly lizards and Phasmids LOVE it. A hen looking for a night-time roost also appreiciates the spongy grippy feel, and after two years, it still held it's shape.

 

[swords]

Outside twigs and stuff are great cos you can find exactly what you want and they're free! Go out into the woods though since things like lawns get hosed with chemicals and twigs that fall on the lawn may pick up bad stuff. They just sprayed my condos grounds today so I've gotta find another source of lilac foliage for a while.

I bake twigs, bark and leaves in the oven for 1 hour at 200*F and then shut the oven off and let the stuff cool with the door closed. Basically I take the stuff out the next day when I wake up. I do this mainly to kill off any bug eggs that might be hiding on them. I'm not so worried about fungus and molds since the isopods I seed the vivarium soils with will take care of those but the oven will kill most of the fungi as well. Things are very brittle after baking so it's a good idea to cut your twigs and bark to size before baking cos they will break unpredictably when you try to wedge them into an enclosure once they're crispy, usually ruining the "perfect" piece you found.