Any other mantis keepers?

boosh96 · 11-13-13, 08:20 AM

I recently got a pair of baby ghost mantises, and they were friggin' awesome. Unfortunately it's not "they" anymore, as one of them died last night. Anyway, are there any other mantis fans on this forum?

MizCandice · 11-13-13, 08:29 AM

Sorry to hear abut your loss, Ive never owned a mantis but i love the beautiful pictures of them others post, they are very regal insects.

boosh96 · 11-13-13, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MizCandice

Sorry to hear abut your loss, Ive never owned a mantis but i love the beautiful pictures of them others post, they are very regal insects.

Thanks. I'm really more of a spider/scorpion person when it comes to inverts, but mantids are an exception.

Here's a picture of the one that passed away last night.
2013-11-02 09.41.40.jpg

sharthun · 11-13-13, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boosh96

Thanks. I'm really more of a spider/scorpion person when it comes to inverts, but mantids are an exception.

Here's a picture of the one that passed away last night.
Attachment 26516

Wow looks like an alien species! Very cool!

MizCandice · 11-13-13, 08:58 AM

aww he wasa so tiny!

Charis · 11-13-13, 02:54 PM

Used to catch and keep them when we were little kids, they are cool pets! Have been thinking about keeping a few again, maybe some a bit more exotic than the native species around here. Went to a tiny expo in Montana last year and there was a table with quite an impressive number of different species. That was tempting but we didn't get any then.

They typically only live not quite a year, right? It's the shortness of their lives that's been holding me back, plus I'm not even sure where to start in trying to narrow down which specie(s) I'd be interested in.

swolek · 11-13-13, 04:49 PM

I kept a Chinese Mantis for a while, it was a cool pet

. I have a picture somewhere but it might be on my old computer. Hmm.

JWFugle · 11-13-13, 05:02 PM

mantis are awesome pets. i caught one in my yard this summer and have been caring for him since. it was so cool to watch him grow up and best of all to hunt... Coolest thing ever!

here is my favorite pic

DragonsEye · 11-16-13, 07:45 PM

Love mantids. Ghost mantids can be challenging to keep. They are rather delicate compared to the native species.

Yes, Charis, a year is usually about it. So if you are going to "jump in", you almost have to get several in order to (hopefully) get an ootheca or two if you'd like to have them long term. The too, some are rather specific in their diets -- only eating flying prey like flies, for example.

mistersprinkles · 11-27-13, 11:20 AM

IMO, if you want to experience mantids in an easy and forgiving way, catch yourself a male and female (they occur all over north america) and keep them seperate until they are fully grown, then put them together and let them mate. Unless you seperate them the moment they're finished mating the female will, in all likelihood, eat the male.

Feed the adults on a diet of pet store crickets (though there's no reason why they can't eat baby dubia roaches). Mist them once or twice a day so they have something to drink, and keep them at normal room temperature.

The female, if fertilized, will lay a nice egg mass for you. Keep it until next spring and the babies will hatch out. Feed them on a diet of pinhead crickets or wingless fruit flies, or newly hatched roaches. If you do it right you should have an infinitely repeating cycle of hatchlings, adults, matings, and rinse and repeat, forever.

deathdealer91 · 02-22-14, 09:37 AM

I bought a Chinese mantis egg off of ebay and it hatched 3 days ago. i now have over 100 baby mantids. I'm going to be selling some of them 3 for a $1. Can't wait for the first molt.

Jinxygirl · 02-22-14, 10:04 AM

I love Mantids! I used to want to start keeping them but I think it would be difficult getting them where I live. I find just the plain old European mantids in my yard every summer but I think it would be awesome to have some Malaysian Orchid mantids.

drumcrush · 02-22-14, 10:31 AM

I caught a few and let them go last year. I never thought about keeping them though. I guess I could though, I have a lot of mealworms I need to get rid of haha main reason why I want another gecko.

philbyi-guy · 02-28-14, 08:15 AM

I've always wanted an orchid mantis. They're so cryptic looking