Two Mantis time Commitment Questions

[Jay]

Hello everyone,

As I am making enclosures and my wife is extremely hesitant about me getting back into the hobby I have a few questions for those of you who have been taking care of your mantises for a while.

First: How much time, on average, do you spend caring for your mantises each day (including raising their food)?

Second: What time-saving techniques have you discovered that have greatly reduced the amount of time required for the maintenance of your mantids?

When you respond, could you please answer both questions? The more that answer the better idea I will have of the time commitment required.The intent of these questions is for me to learn how to invest more time and effort up-front so that I can spend less time maintaining and more time enjoying my mantises.

Thanks!

-Jay

 

[Extrememantid]

Depends on how many you have really. Takes me about 5-10 minutes a day with about 10 mantids.

 

[PlayingMantis]

And it also depends on what kind of mantis do you plan to keep (easy/hardy species vs more fragile/difficult species). Also, the age matters - for example, adults can go longer without food than nymphs.

How much time you'll spend taking care of the feeders depends on how many types of feeders you'll need, as well as the number of mantids.

 

[CosbyArt]

First: How much time, on average, do you spend caring for your mantises each day (including raising their food)?

Second: What time-saving techniques have you discovered that have greatly reduced the amount of time required for the maintenance of your mantids?

I'm a newbie, but I have it down to 5 minutes or less myself most days caring for this hobby. I spend much more time though interacting, watching, or creating new things to help me -- and lots of time here reading.

First: 5 minutes or less most days, about 15 minutes at most doing weekly "chores". This includes cleaning and misting the habitat, feeding my mantis Susanna, and cleaning/feeding/watering my crickets.

Second: Keep everything in the same room, simple and easy. To clean out my mantis habitat and my cricket 35 gallon (tall aquarium tank with metal screen top) I use these 12" tweezers. It allows me to remove uneaten cricket remains, dead crickets, and anything making it easy to clean (without bothering my mantis).

To feed my mantis I capture the crickets with my 12" tweezers and put them into a large pill bottle until I have as many as I need. Then I unscrew the cap to my mantis habitat and pour them into the feeder hole - no escapes using this method.



Misting is done via a simple spray water bottle directly to the screen mesh. Also to water the crickets this method has really made them thrive, is to make a self-waterer from a water bottle. The filling water area is filled with cotton to prevent the crickets from drowning (haven't had any problems yet). Here is a quick diy I made of making one

View attachment 5431

Another tip I am still experimenting with is to use habitat cleaning critter/bugs. I captured tons of Ispods and have some of them in with my crickets. Not sure how much they are helping, but as i caught so many near 200+, I keep most in their own habitat as a pet almost.

The Ispods are commonly called sow bugs, roly-poly's, pill bugs, etc. Peter give some details about them, and has them for sell.



There are bound to be other things I am forgetting, but your find your own tricks again as you go along. In reality though it doesn't require much upkeep for the hobby - unless you catch the feeders yourself. I buy them as needed and let them breed too.

 

[Digger]

Although I clearly understand your reasoning for these two questions - I would never self-impose a time quota for any hobby or labor-of-love. It seems self-defeating as to why you're doing it in the first place. Placing care-quotas, in my view, makes this more of a chore, rather than a relaxing, enjoyable and educational pastime.

 

[Jay]

Although I clearly understand your reasoning for these two questions - I would never self-impose a time quota for any hobby or labor-of-love. It seems self-defeating as to why you're doing it in the first place. Placing care-quotas, in my view, makes this more of a chore, rather than a relaxing, enjoyable and educational pastime.

You are completely right in saying this Digger, but it is important for me to consider the time required before making the commitment.

My life rarely consists of an hour of free time so I understandably feel it important to make sure I maximize the time I have.

 

[Norlin]

Also depends on what happens with the mantids that you have, I have one that had a mismolt but is still relatively healthy but needs hand feeding. This take about 30 minutes every other day that wouldn't be needed if it was healthy.

 

[Crazy4mantis]

It took me about 10 minutes. I misted the enclosure, went outside to catch a bug to feed, and fed. Obviously the feeder catching takes some effort. I'd say it's about the same amount of time to care for feeders. In special circumstances like a molt or mating, it takes longer, about 30 minutes, to reposition the mantis, move around decorations, etc.

I've found that most flying feeders automatically fly toward light so I put a lamp in the back of the enclosure, put the feeder in through the front, and they would quickly go in toward the light.