Vegetation, legit or imitation?

[mrskatix]

I have been breeding mantid's for a bit now and as my stock grows I'm struggling to keep up on supplying my buddies with real vegetation. I live on a big enough chunk of land that I basically have unlimited year round bramble (and several other seasonal plants) but it is so time consuming. I'm curious how many ppl do real plants and how many do artificial? Also if you do use artificial where you get them?

 

[jrh3]

I use moist paper towels, in deli cups.....short and simple.

 

[Bloodtkr]

Artificial plants in the bigger cages..paper towel and excelsior in the deli cups. The plants I get at ac Moore and the excelsior I get at new englandherpetoculture.com

 

[Rick]

Honestly you don't need plants either real or artificial. I agree they look nice but are not necessary. These things get harder to do the more mantids you keep and simpler becomes a better option. If you just like the look and don't have the time go artificial.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I do artificial for my net cages since I don't have lighting to keep anything alive. Most of my plants are silk ones from exo terra because I really like the quailty.

One day when I have the room, I would like to set up a masive display tank with natural plants and the like.

 

[LAME]

I do real plants.

From Lowe's

 

[Bloodtkr]

same here i cant use live plants because i live in a cave ; )

 

[Ranitomeya]

I normally keep all my mantises with just paper towels and use hotglue if I need to glue down more grippable areas for mantises that are unable to climb smooth surfaces. If you live in an area without natural lighting, but you have good enough lighting to see well, you could try using Epipremnum aureum. It does well in dimly lit conditions and is one of the easiest houseplants to grow. Most people grow them in just vases of water without any soil.

 

[Sticky]

I let some of mine stay on plants outside of thier cages. My chaetas stay on branches I cut last winter when we were hit with ice storms. I like that as then I didnt have to cut from living trees.

 

[mrskatix]

Thanks everyone. When I first started I used paper towles and excelsior but between mismolts, nymphs getting stuck to damp.....almost sticky papertowls, the time I would spend cutting the papertowels into the right shape (one circle on the bottom otherwise they would get lost or crushed in/under the towel) and the fact I couldnt stand the thought of them just walking around on their poo I switched to exo terra coconut subtrate. I keep up on using spring tails in all my containers so mold is seldom an issue. I have just noticed thru trail and error most of my mantids seem a lot happier with some plants around. Whenever I would lift a lid most of the ones without anything in there cups would come running out and try to climb or hide, whereas most with plants just kinda hang out and wait for the magic food bringing tweezers. The room I keep my bugs in is in the basement with no "real" light but thanks to my awesome husband they have synthesized lighting. Around dawn led lights come on to replicate natural light tones, and change thruout the day, and eventually fade off around dusk. They have it better than I do, I swear

Thanks again for the input and listing of places to get things.

 

[PIaf94]

I don't really use plants unless necessary like branches for idolos to climb. I do prefer artificial plants when I'm trying to get my orchids to lay her ooths. A bright green plant with broad flat leaves always works and looks nice in the terrarium

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Thanks everyone. When I first started I used paper towles and excelsior but between mismolts, nymphs getting stuck to damp.....almost sticky papertowls, the time I would spend cutting the papertowels into the right shape (one circle on the bottom otherwise they would get lost or crushed in/under the towel) and the fact I couldnt stand the thought of them just walking around on their poo I switched to exo terra coconut subtrate. I keep up on using spring tails in all my containers so mold is seldom an issue. I have just noticed thru trail and error most of my mantids seem a lot happier with some plants around. Whenever I would lift a lid most of the ones without anything in there cups would come running out and try to climb or hide, whereas most with plants just kinda hang out and wait for the magic food bringing tweezers. The room I keep my bugs in is in the basement with no "real" light but thanks to my awesome husband they have synthesized lighting. Around dawn led lights come on to replicate natural light tones, and change thruout the day, and eventually fade off around dusk. They have it better than I do, I swear

I also find substrate + cleanup crew way easier than papertowels since no cleaning is involved, but I use net cages for my mantises since I like all the easy cling space they provide. I do think plants can add quality of life, especially to certain species. Some of the bolder, more active species almost never give them the time of day (*cough* Chinese mantises *cough*), but a lot of the more timid species really seem to enjoy hanging out in the leaves and peering out at the world from hiding spots.

 

[Orin]

It's not whether the plants are real or artificial, it is the texture, height, and size of the structure. I prefer screen.

 

[Vespertino]

I haven't been a mantid petkeeper for very long, but I have plastic plants (aquarium type) in my terrarium where I'm keeping my nymphs (now they're L2's). Like Krissim's experience, some really like hiding in the fake foliage and it gives them lots of places to perch, hunt, etc. Even if the mantids truly don't care either way, I think it's a bit more fun watching them inside something closer to their natural outdoor environment. If I had the time and resources I'd make that awesome moss terrarium someone posted the video on in the enclosure/habitat topic, but I think it takes 8 months to grow!

 

[LAME]

I haven't been a mantid petkeeper for very long, but I have plastic plants (aquarium type) in my terrarium where I'm keeping my nymphs (now they're L2's). Like Krissim's experience, some really like hiding in the fake foliage and it gives them lots of places to perch, hunt, etc. Even if the mantids truly don't care either way, I think it's a bit more fun watching them inside something closer to their natural outdoor environment. If I had the time and resources I'd make that awesome moss terrarium someone posted the video on in the enclosure/habitat topic, but I think it takes 8 months to grow!

Agreed! And that moss terrarium is beautiful, I was also looking into it until I seen that time frame it takes to develop.

 

[mantisman 230]

I use the time tested method for all mantids, simply get a stick of appropriate thickness and place diagonally, this gives a natural look and is super easy to find, but I check any new sticks for hitchhikers first.