Why do you keep mantids and what species do you own?

[SpaceWolf]

Like the title says, what do mantids mean to you, why do you keep them and what species do you own/have you owned. Why did you choose that species and would you recommend them or not?

 

[SpaceWolf]

To start off, I owned the phyllocrania paradoxa twice. I've had 4 of  them last year and bought 6 again last week. I keep them because I love their camouflage and shapes if their bodies. I'm planning on owning other species later on but haven't figured out which ones yet. I may be looking for a more active species since ghosts mostly don't move around all that much. I've heard that boxer mantids are very cool. Also, I would definately recommend phyllocrania paradoxa, they are an easy to keep mantis, don't need that big of an enclosure and you can keep multiple of them together, the only downside is having to deal with raising maggots since they only eat flies.

 

[moldveien]

I keep mantids beacuse they are inexpensive and has alot of variaty, I keep, Rhombodera meagera, Phylloletes breve, Phyllocrania paradoxa. Gongylus gongylodus, echomonella sp and creobrater gemmatus. And I like all of them trying to breed the ones i got as adults.

 

[Connor]

Same reason as @moldveienI also like them for their personalities. I would recommend a giant aftrican mantis for an aggressive species 

 

[moldveien]

I also should add i kept them while waiting for reptile legalization

 

[SpaceWolf]

I was looking into reptiles too at first, but seeing how they most of them live like 15+ years, that's quite a lot of time you have them then. Mantids are short lived and you can always continue with the offspring

 

[Jessie]

I keep them because they are my best friends and my family.

 

[Ocelotbren]

I keep them because I stumbled across the idea of keeping a praying mantis as a pet and though it was super cool.  Upon more research, I found out that they are quite low maintenance and their short lifespans make them less of a long term commitment.  I decided to go ahead and try it in January of this year and got a Chinese nymph just to see how I like it.  Now I have that same Chinese as an adult as well as four ghost nymphs that I got in June.  I have a list of other species I'm interested in trying, but I don't want to overdo it all at once since one of the perks of this hobby is that they're low maintenance haha.  I don't have a ton of time to be spending caring for a large number of mantids.  So, I have to be patient.

 

[hymenopus]

I'm an insect addict!

 

[T.C.]

I'm an insect addict!

Same.  B)

 

[Connor]

I'm an insect addict!

Same.  B)

Haha funniest thing is, I never liked bugs before running into my first praying mantis. Don't get me wrong... I still dislike bugs with a passion... just not mantis.