Mantis for a beginner

Andrea82

Andrea82

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Wolfspidurguy said:
idk if this is the best thing for a beginner is i always get a Tenodera sinensis ooth and when that hatches i keep some and let the rest go (the species is already established here)
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It must be awesome to be able to pick up such animals right out your backyard. *sigh*
It can be a beginner species, it was one of my first. Need to watch your fingers though, crazy feeding response! One caught my finger instead of the superworm with her raptors and actually draw blood. I've never fed with hands again :D
 
Wolfspidurguy

Wolfspidurguy

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Andrea82 said:
It must be awesome to be able to pick up such animals right out your backyard. *sigh*
It can be a beginner species, it was one of my first. Need to watch your fingers though, crazy feeding response! One caught my finger instead of the superworm with her raptors and actually draw blood. I've never fed with hands again :D
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oh no whenever we (its a family tradition to buy them because there the only inverts my family all likes) release them we never see any ever again its probably because of TNs unpredictable weather that can become super cold out of nowhere. it snowed yesterday... in the middle of march...
 
Andrea82

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Wolfspidurguy said:
oh no whenever we (its a family tradition to buy them because there the only inverts my family all likes) release them we never see any ever again its probably because of TNs unpredictable weather that can become super cold out of nowhere. it snowed yesterday... in the middle of march...
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Yeah, there's snow predicted here in the Netherlands as well next week, and with temps of -9°C at night.
Today, it's sunny and almost 15°C. Makes no sense at all. :confused:
 
The wolf

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She has arrived!!! I'm so exited
It looks like she moulted in transit and she has arrived white and soft this is her setup I'm probably going to re house her into a bigger one soon maybe once she hardens
 

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Andrea82

Andrea82

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The wolf said:
She has arrived!!! I'm so exited
It looks like she moulted in transit and she has arrived white and soft this is her setup I'm probably going to re house her into a bigger one soon maybe once she hardens
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Wow, you're lucky she's okay! They usually don't do very well with molting in transit.
Congrats on your first mantis :)
 
The wolf

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Andrea82 said:
Wow, you're lucky she's okay! They usually don't do very well with molting in transit.
Congrats on your first mantis :)
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She arrived when I was still at school so she could have mounted when I was away
So no obvious mistakes on the enclosure
 
Andrea82

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The wolf said:
She arrived when I was still at school so she could have mounted when I was away
So no obvious mistakes on the enclosure
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Personally, i would give her some branches that are more high up in the enclosure, instead of relatively low. You don't want her to molt where she is sitting in the picture. I'm not sure about the ventilation, is there more on the lid?
 
The wolf

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Andrea82 said:
Personally, i would give her some branches that are more high up in the enclosure, instead of relatively low. You don't want her to molt where she is sitting in the picture. I'm not sure about the ventilation, is there more on the lid?
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There is no more ventilation just those holes on the sides I have a much bigger enclosure set up with mesh on the lid and way more branches,is it possible to have a container too big though
 
Andrea82

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The wolf said:
There is no more ventilation just those holes on the sides I have a much bigger enclosure set up with mesh on the lid and way more branches,is it possible to have a container too big though
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With mantids, bigger is better. They can spot prey easily from a distance, or you could tong-feed her for a while. Moist stuffy containers are no good for mantids.
 
The wolf

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a deroplatys lobata has just showed up on the spider shop and I was wondering if they would be suitable for my experience level or not
 
Andrea82

Andrea82

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The wolf said:
a deroplatys lobata has just showed up on the spider shop and I was wondering if they would be suitable for my experience level or not
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I was only familiar with D.dessicata, so had to look them up. Care is the same. Although this species is not very hard to keep, there is more time and energy involved. Thia species needs the temp to be above 75F so a heatsource is needed if you don't keep the room on that temp. At night it can be a little lower but never below 68.
This species can be picky with food so you need to vary a lot. Only soft prey like flies, mealies, superworms or banana roaches.
When startled, nymphs will drop from their perches and lay still like a dead leaf. Don't stress them out by doing this on purpose. When bigger, the mantis will go into its deimatic display and unfurl wings with impressive colours and raise its raptors. Really impressive species.
They can be kept communally but i wouldn't recommend doing that as an intro to mantids. :)
Reliable info can be found here:
https://www.mantidkingdom.com/mantid-care/deroplatys-lobata/
 
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