Violin COMMUNAL?

[gripen]

Hahah! I'm a sucker for a challenge.

I put all my non-mated Creos in with my Idolos to (A) eat off all the extra flies, ( B) save shelf space for more Idolo cages and © prove that Idolos wouldn't attack the creo females, since it was unlikely they'd flap their wings (males on the other hand DO make decent Idolo feeders - take the air and kiss it good bye!). I was pretty sure I didn't need to worry about them taking out an adult Idolo. Iiiiiiiiiiiiiii know better noooooooow.....!

I've done similar "stunts" for years. Gongy's and Ghosts and Boxers all peacefully co-existed without incident (or significant incident). Hetercheros (sp?) and Brunners did fairly well with the Idolos, but menaced anything smaller (or, with brunners, other brunners - they are SO not communal). I even had adult female Orchids in with the Idolos - without friendly fire.

You a crazzzzzy man!

 

[sporeworld]

Hahaha! Never a dull moment!

 

[CoolMantid]

Did she lay even with mating with the wrong species? I had a dream about a cage with one third colorful with flowers (Orchids), one with lush green plants (Leaf mantis), and one with dead leaves (Ghost or dead leaf)! No seperators they lived together. Wish that could happen

 

[sporeworld]

Some of them laid fine (I happened more than once), but no - no bizzaro babies.

As for your dream - You'd need to plan out THAT tank properly, while have separate tanks to lead up to that one. I think your Orchids will eat everything less than, or equal to, their own size. Same with the Dead Leaf's. Of course, you could always have three DIFFERENT cages - right next to each other - sort of like the seasons (although, I'm not convinced yet that the Orchid Commune will work).

Also, once you get them all setup, don't surprised if you switch the environments around. While the Dead Leaf will blend IN better to the drab environment, I suspect you'll prefer a more colorful backdrop, so you can actually SEE them. That was MY experience, anyway.

 

[CoolMantid]

Ya. That was only a dream. If wish I could do that. I could do that. If I had alot of foilage and used plants as sperators. Like have a thick bush to block the mantids.

A season cage would be amazing. Orchid (Spring) Brunners (Summer) Dead Leaf (Fall) Heterocheta (Winter) Maybe so....