My new pet

She cost me £15 including her tub and a few locust

All she needs is a tall tub/a stick and to be sprayed once a day and fed every 2/3 days

Lives quite happily in room temperature...some of them need a bit more heat but im gonna get her a new house later today :)
 
Will try and answer a few of the questions that have been asked seing as people seem to have taken an interest :)

They will live between a year and 18 month depending on how much you feed them...feed them more they will shed quicker and thus die quicker

They are bred over here so its just instinct to annihalate any bug walking past it :D

Some species need more accurate temperatures / humidty levels but the species i have is pretty hardy so as long as your room is a bout 20-23 degrees and you spray her tub every day with spring water or have a good moist substrate she will be fine :)

Cost wise they are cheap, she cost me £15 with the tub she has come in. Have gone shopping today for some nicer tubs but could i hell find anything of a suitable size :(

Already looking into getting an orchid ( the white one further up with the pink bits) going to see how warm the top of my snake viv is to see if i can get away with using the heat from that instead of buying another heatmat :D
 
I intend on getting a fair few, been looking for some matching containers but cant find any that are either not stupidly priced or they are not the right size :(

Just checked, the area bang above his ceramic is about 26 so could just keep the orchid that side and more hardy ones the other side :D
 
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Raikiri said:
I keep mine in a medium faunarium (£8). To be honest, it's a little big.

I plan on getting another one to keep 3 of the Ghosts in, as they're ok to keep together as long as they have enough food.
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Didnt think any mantis could be kept together, but just had a look at a care sheet on them and it does seem they should be ok.

The tub i have mine in at th eminute is a bit big, but i looked in 3 different poundshops and a few other shops today and could not find anything teh right size, i did get a metre of netting though as i intend on making the tubs all pretty with vents :) I just want a load of the same tubs in different sizes so the top of my viv looks tidy :D
 
Totality said:
Is your green one a european mantis? Where do you buy them from? I can't find a classifieds page on that forum?
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As far as i know it is an african mantis or Sphodromantis aurea for its posh name.

Not sure wether you need to join up to the forum to see the classifieds but i actually got mine from a reptile shop in Sheffield, only went in for some frozen mice for my snake and came out with her :) Most reptile shops will keep inverts as well :)
 
Raikiri said:
I've bought all of mine from members on Bug Nation, no issues so far and quite cheap.

Here we go, proper pic of the ghost:

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Ha ha she? is awesome :)

Cant wait to find some decent tubs and get buying some more :D

Just realised the other free locust i got has snuffed it :/ i need to find that spider that was running around my living room :p
 
Totality said:
Cheers. I was looking at buying some Rankin Dragons a while back but decided they were just too expensive and required proper heating, etc. I'm scared of spiders so ruled that out as an option because if I ever came across an empty container I would have to move house.

The ghost mantis looks like it could eat your face in the night, but the normal green ones look cool!

How long does a tub of food last? I'm assuming the tub of food will die before they all get eaten if you only have one of the beasts, but could you just let the food live in the container too?
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You have to look after the locust as well, feeding them but 1 tub they will probably die before you have used them all with only 1 mantis
 
KnightStalker said:
Just a thought, could you put them in a fridge or freezer before feeding, so they will be sleepy and generally slower..once in with the mantis they should liven up again.
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Yeah you can do this, chuck em in the fridge for half an hour before feeding and they become more docile :)
 
KnightStalker said:
Hmm ok then, im tempted to get one now, probably asked before, but how mobile are these usually? i.e can you put them on your desk and it will sit there for a while or will it try and make a great escape lol.
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had mine out for about 10 minutes yesterday and she never moved, just sat cleaning herself :) have not seen her move very quick yet actually apart from when she grabbed her locust :)
 
For housing, they should come in a pot anyway, as long asthe container is 3x the mantis lenght high and 2x you will be fine :)

If its a small mantis you can get a plastic pint pot, tightly pack some damp tissue in the bottom, get a stick and wash with boiling hot water and shove that in the middle and then get some fine mesh curtain and drape over the top, stick a rubber band round it and you are done :) spray lightly with water every other day, then you just need to feed appropriatly for the species/size :)
 
Ive just bought 14 tubs, so i will deffo have some off you Dave to start my little collection. How big are they, just bought some locust got home and there were only 4 live ones in there :/ can get some flies and smaller locust if they are only babies :D
 
Had quite a number of spiders that have fell to her demise the last few days, using them as snacks :D

Just waiting on a glue gun to arrive and her and her food are going to be moveed into lovely new homes :p
 
KnightStalker said:
Stop posting pics please lol, everytime i see it i want one lol just havent read enough to know what i should do with them yet.
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You would have all on killing them to be honest, they are hardy little buggers :p

Mist every few days, feed every few days, have enough room for them to moult...thats about it really :)

Ive even took to the locust which are kinda cute in a weird way :o
 
Mark A said:
Would it be possible to feed them on a diet of just moths and house spiders? Get loads in the summer, would be nice to not have to buy insects to feed it.
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As far as i know that would be fine, they love moths apparantly.

Its better to feed them a varied diet instead of just the same thing anyways the only things ive read that they cant really eat are ants / ladybirds and woodlice.

Threw mine a fly last night she just swiped it out of mid air :D
 
DoggyX said:
I REALLY want one or more of these little fellas, but I can't make my mind up on which type?! Went to the local pet shop where I buy bugs for my gecko and after asking if they sold any was told that they don't but in two weeks are going to a big spider fair where they hope to bring back loads of new stuff to sell. So if I let them know a few species I'm interested in they will bring me a few back to purchase!!
I admittably don't know much about these but want one that will be at least 2inchs long when grown. Any recommendations? Wikipedia seems to be very long winded on there species list :(
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Check the care sheets on the mantis UK forum : http://www.ukmantisforums.co.uk/mantis-care-sheets/

tells you how big they will get, what temps etc :)
 
Mines new house :



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Got some bark across the back for her to climb up and a few twigs to help her around :)

Drilled some vent holes either side, one big one stuffed with sponge as a feeding hole, and cut the middle of the lid off and hot glued some mesh over it and voila :D
 
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