Vivariums

[Jwonni]

Are vivariums suitable for mantids in the fact that they are 5 of the 6 sides wood so their is not a mesh top for ventilation?

If you had a tall vivarium how would you suggest is the best way of heating it for a mantids?

For example 4 f00t high, as its wood the heat mat on the side of the outside would not work (i assume), you couldn't have a bulb inside coz as they climb they would likely burn themselves, not sure how strong a heatmat is and whether the heat would fill the place especially under plenty of substrate if plants were to be planted although i suppose in something this size keeping plants in pots would not be a huge problem

I assume the wood would also be better for the mantids to climb than a glass side as they struggle on that but i imagine they wont struggle climbing wood

 

[ellroy]

I personally wouldn't use the standard viv (as in wood with sliding glass front) as it would be hard to provide the ventilation as you say. A vivarium style wooden box with a mesh front door would be pretty cool though. I reckon it would be possible to use a spotlight without the risk of burning the mantis.....doubt a heatmat on its own would supply enough heat though.

I think a 4' cage would be wasted on mantis....even if you were thinking of keeping a 'communal' species they would only use a very small part of the viv and it would be much harder for them to find their prey

Alan

 

[Jwonni]

would the findoing food be much of a problem as the way flies and moths go they would cover the whole thing many times a day as they just fly and fly randomly all over

Was pretty sure a heat mat wouldn't do much, i expected a bulb to be bad as bulbs are always up top which i where i expect mantises would mostly go

 

[Rick]

What kind of mantids are you looking at keeping that you will need additional heat?

 

[Jwonni]

well i live in england and my temp surely cant be even 20 and i'm getting ghosts which i've read i think its 25-28 or something like that

Plus to get the room air nice for me the window is open a lot which will cool my room down

both kinds of mantid i've had i have used a mat with (african/orchid)

 

[Rick]

Do you english people not have heat in your homes? Jsut wondering cause i've seen several people on here saying they live over there and need additional heat. Just curious.

 

[Jwonni]

heating costs money i live with my mam and cant just say right i'm having the boiler making hot water all day to heat my room that i'm not in when i could use a tiny like 3 watt heat mat i think the ones i've used up to now are

20 or just under is not cold for a person but is cold for an exotic mantis i dont like being hot

 

[13ollox]

was 33 in england today , however i agree when we have cold days they can be pretty bloomin chilly , ive never had a problem with exotic mantids being too cold though even at around 20 degrees, but we do need the extra heat every so often . during febuary i used a hot water bottle for my mantis as i didnt have heat mat at the time 8)

 

[julian camilo]

i used a light bulb inside an apogee reptarium once, and the only ill effects were some of the plant leaves nearest to the bulb getting burnt, the mantids were always fine. although they were g,gongylodes which seem to have a higher heat tolerance. maybe you could but one of those small cages for the bulb? so they cant get right on it. im sure theyd stay away anyway, of their own accord, if it was that hot. i think thats your best bet with this kind of container. if five of the six sides are wood, i dont think its the best for mantids. if youre bent on using it, maybe securing some mesh to the roof somehow would be an idea. but what is the 6th side made of? becuase i can deffinitely see ventilation becoming a big problem. i think a heatmat on the inside might work, if its kept on enough. the heat will rise up through the vivarium. and because the sides are wood mainly, it wouldnt escape easily, as the ventilation is also quite low. i guess a last resort is pointing a heat lamp into the container. if youre confident it wont overheat, than somewhere near the bottom. if you dont want to risk overheating, maybe somewhere around the middle of the enclosure, so the bottom is slightly cooler. just some ideas, all of this is in theory, i have never used an enclosure of this size and type.

 

[Jwonni]

its a typical viv so 5 sides wood and the front sliding glass doors

not bent on using it just saw it on ebay and thought it was nice and not a bad price, has anyone used one of the exoterra flexariums that are all mesh and sit in a tray to have your substrate?

and yeah the temps are high today/yesterday but living here i know it wont last long

 

[ellroy]

Those Exoterra cages look great, not sure if the mesh is fine enough to keep ff's in though....might be worth checking. I would be looking at a lot smaller cage for Ghost's....even a hundred of them would have been lost in a 4' viv!

 

[Jwonni]

wouldn't need to put them in their when they were small enough to take FF's but i have never seen one so i have no idea what the mesh is like for a mantis to climb on coz i think they are designed for lizards so the mesh may not need to be fine and a mantis might slip through

 

[julian camilo]

if the exoterra ones are anything like the apogee reptatrium ones (maybe theyre the same things but im confused?) then the mesh is fine for mantids. however, im not sure it could keep fruit flies in. though... it might. what i mean is, if you were to pick a fruit fly up, you could probably place it through the mesh fairly easily, head first or whatever, theyre small enough. however, if you see a fruit fly walking on the mesh, or up the sides, it will simply walk and walk. i dont think they have the impetus to make the effort and thread themselves through. however i myself would not risk it. it would probably be best to experiment a bit first, maybe let off a certain number of ff's in there, watch them for a bit, if theyre still there in a day or whatever, you might assume its safe. i think it would be, though if a mantis is small enough to still be eating fruit flies, id probably want to keep it in a cup or something, just to make sure it eats and stuff. also, maybe placing a little fruit inside the exoterra/reptatrium might encourage flies to stay nearby rather than roam around looking for ways out.

 

[Jwonni]

yeah as i say they wouldn't be going in for a while but just looking at bigger things to have a bunch in when they are grown a bit

 

[julian camilo]

have you thought about maybe splitting up that 4 foot enclosure into 2, for example? just like a divider of some sort. the space would be put to better use i think. thought it might be a bit too much effort i guess.

 

[ellroy]

Yeah, back to the original post.....a 4 foot viv is not much use for mantids.

Smaller mesh cages are ideal though, the one's I use are 45cm square and just about right for an adult pair of the larger species.

Alan

 

[julian camilo]

yeh smaller mesh cages are ideal. good ventilation, grip on all sides, lightweight, not too expensive etc. just wondering ellroy, have you ever kept a species which requires high humidity in a mesh cage? because ive only ever kept g.gongylodes in them, and they do very well, but ive always wondered how a more humid species would fare, and have yet to try. maybe some kind of plastic covering?

um yeh sorry, off-topic i guess.

 

[Jwonni]

maybe most of the time the temp would be ok but I'm sure there will be occasions when a little extra heat is required so do the heat emitting bulbs just go into anything that holds a bulb so just a desk lamp that can be aimed put a heat bulb in it and have it face the flexarium?