Praying Mantis

danza · 27 Jun 2006 at 21:35

Don't females eat the males after they mate?

Not all of the time, but yes, generally they will try if they aren't totally gorged already/eating something else at the time.

pugster · 27 Jun 2006 at 21:57

the only species that can really be kept together are paradoxa and gongylus ,even then they need a big tank so they can get away from one another and you will still lose one occasionally.

panthro · 27 Jun 2006 at 22:03

What about those worms you can buy in pots from most pet stores. Are they waxworms? Would it eat those?
Anyone seen the vid on google of the giant centipede eating a mouse? Pretty crazy, just goes to show how powerful some insects really are.

Scuzi · 27 Jun 2006 at 22:04

smoove said:
This thread has got be thinking about getting a praying mantis again!

Scuzi, can i ask where you got that kit? Also, get some pics up!

[imghttp://image-upload.org/upload/june/ypYfc.jpg[/img]

I got it all from www.faunology.co.uk , absolutely excellent service. I ordered on Sunday evening and received it all first thing this morning

Richdog · 27 Jun 2006 at 22:33

Serious questions:

Are mantids happy in a small tank, do they live a "good" life and is it healthy for them to be there?

So they ever attack/ claw fingers?

Are they hard to keep alivefor long?

I would love to take macro pictures of one, they are truly fascinating and genuinely interesting (almost alien) creatures.

danza · 27 Jun 2006 at 22:50

Serious questions:

Are mantids happy in a small tank, do they live a "good" life and is it healthy for them to be there?

So they ever attack/ claw fingers?

Are they hard to keep alivefor long?

I would love to take macro pictures of one, they are truly fascinating and genuinely interesting (almost alien) creatures.

1. They aren't very active. They're ambush predators so tend to sit around and wait for food to arrive. They can sit in the same place for quite some time without moving.

2. Yes, but it doesn't really hurt. If they bite you they can draw blood, but will seldom do this.

3. No, they're very easy to keep alive, and they only live for ~1 year anyway.

Scuzi · 27 Jun 2006 at 23:02

Here's a pic of my box, it's beside my laptop for some idea of the scale. It's the medium sized box and seems to be plenty big enough. I got some vermiculite for the base and stuck a few tree branches in there to make it look less bare.

And another of Paddy (That's his name)

pugster · 28 Jun 2006 at 07:49

top 2 tanks modified with old socks on lids have L2 mantis in (Pseudoempusa pinnapovonis ) there are only 2 ppl max in the country that have these mantis for sale atm ,sock on top because they are being fed pinhead crickets (trust me you dont want crickets escaping in your home ,once they grow up and start chirping in the walls they will drive you crazy and you will have a hell of a time catching/killing them),bottom left tank has an adult female bark mantis,right one is holding brown crickets atm for the mantis and my horned frog, there are also other containers holding the pinhead crickets and mealworms,when you do have to buy adult crickets i suggest the brown ones as they dont make as much noise as the black (trust me its suprising how loud they are,your room will sound like you are on safari at night) ,i dont bother with vermiculite or other in the bottom of the tank,experience has taught me that a/ the mantis cant grip on it if it falls some some reason ,b/most food you throw in the tank will just burrow into it and disapear,most hungry mantis will chase food when hungry,the only ones that wait for food to come to them are the ones that specialise in flying insects such as flower mantids and gongylus.