Praying Mantis and Emps living together.

[Predator]

A friend of mine caught a rather large praying mantis at work a few days ago. He brought it over to my house since he had no where to house it. Well I didnt really have anywhere to put it either besides in my tank with 2 adult emps. So far its been 3 days and the praying mantis is still alive. The mantis sticks to the high ground and jumps down to grab a cricket here and there. So far it seems like this may work out. Has anyone else tried this? I kind of like the fact they may be able to co-exist together. It adds more life to the tank. I hope the mantis is smart enough to stay away from them which it seems to be. I have watched him and he wont jump down for a cricket if he sees one of the emps out and about.

 

[Empi]

It would not suprise me if the mantis survives. They are pretty smart little guys. I have crickets that survive for a long time and if a cricket can do it a mantis should have know problems. I have never heard of keeping mantids with emps, but I keep pill bugs and small pedes wih then and they co exist quite well.

 

[david31337]

It would not suprise me if the mantis survives. They are pretty smart little guys. I have crickets that survive for a long time and if a cricket can do it a mantis should have know problems. I have never heard of keeping mantids with emps, but I keep pill bugs and small pedes wih then and they co exist quite well.

I would not agree with that! Scorps are ambush hunters, and will nail the mantid at the first chance....It's slightly crule me thinks :?
I keep both, but would never keep them 2gether!

 

[Midnightcowboy]

That mantis is gonna meet a sticky end when he steps in the wrong place! My big emp goes for anything that moves, and I can't see a mantis surviving with mine too long. I think co-existing would be the wrong word, because the first chance the emps get, they will eat that mantis. Its like everyday would be a fight to survive for the little fella. It's only a matter of time, but I'm curious to see how long he lasts in there with them. Sooner or later he is bound to slip up lol, keep us posted on how he gets along!

 

[Predator]

The mantis and emps encountered each other once but the mantis didnt even flinch until the emp ventured away. He then made his way back up the glass. Considering these 2 emps are very docile compared to some I have owned things might go ok. I wouldnt doubt if the mantis did venture over their burrow and get yanked down below. I just want to see how long they can live together. I might add some more things in there so he dont have to go to the ground very often.

 

[Beardo]

Why not just house the mantis seperately? Whats the point in keeping it with 2 Emperors? There isn't a good reason that I can think of.

 

[Predator]

Why not just house the mantis seperately? Whats the point in keeping it with 2 Emperors? There isn't a good reason that I can think of.

Already said I dont have anywhere else to put it right now. It kind of turned into an experiment. Im thinking the mantis may be smart enough to survive.

 

[Beardo]

Well, its a good thing the mantis is smart....obviously smarter than the person keeping it. If you don't have the space or capabilities to house an animal properly, then don't keep it. If the mantis get chowed on, its your own <edit> fault. Congrats on your gross negligence.

 

[Predator]

Well, its a good thing the mantis is smart....obviously smarter than the person keeping it. If you don't have the space or capabilities to house an animal properly, then don't keep it. If the mantis get chowed on, its your own <edit> fault. Congrats on your gross negligence.

Thats a real mature way to put it.

 

[Beardo]

Maturity includes being a responsible individual when it comes to owning and caring for live animals, which is something you are sorely lacking. <edit> leave the animals for the people who give a crap.

 

[BigBadConrad]

A friend of mine caught a rather large praying mantis at work a few days ago. He brought it over to my house since he had no where to house it.

If you have nowhere to house it, why don't you let it go where you found it or nearby? He/she is about at the end of its run anyway so just let it try to find a mate and make more mantises for next year. Emps are African so of course they don't 'live together' with the mantis species you found.

 

[Predator]

Some people here take things way to personally.

 

[Farom]

Well put DavidB. :clap:

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[WYSIWYG]

Some people here take things way to personally.

Well, you have to admit that you are posting in a place where enthusiasts who care about inverts in general frequent.

My heart goes out to your little mantid. He/she is at the end of its life cycle and is trapped in a place it cannot reproduce. And it is probably under some serious stress too.

Imagine how YOU would feel living in a room with a couple of alligators hanging just below a low ceiling, having to sneak in between them to get your share of food.

Forget the experiment. You don't have a place to house the critter so why not turn it loose? Get some good pix so you can remember having it give it its freedom. You'll feel much better than if you keep it and allow it to get munched by your scorps.

Wysi

 

[maxamillian]

I use to breed mantids and had about 7 different species. One summer I was feeding over 800 of them on a weekly basis. To do that I had to keep and breed tons of stinky, smelly crickets :wall: . What would happen from time to time was that the crickets would escape and I would have to chase them down in my invert room. Well, I decided that I would put some of the mantids to work and strategically placed a couple of them around my room. I just let them roam around free in an attempt to catch the crickets that escaped. I always made sure that I would spray the plants around my room to provide moisture for the mantids. I didn't think that it would work because it seemed like the crickets only stayed on the ground and the mantids seemed to like hanging around the ceiling. Well, to my surprise the mantids did get to the crickets on the ground that escaped and because of their success the rest of my house was cricket free .

I don't know if you would want to try and let the mantis loose around your room...but if you're in a position to do that I think you might have some fun. I would have friends that would come over and not realize that a mantis was hanging on the wall just above them and so when I told them to look up they would be really surprised out...others thought it was cool.

It turned out that the pair that i let loose in my room molted and one just happen to be a male and the other a female. As you can see they happily got together and made me an egg sac that produced 78 little ones to add to my collection.

 

[WYSIWYG]

Sounds like I need to do something like that. I've got roaches escaping left and right and my husband is going to get extremely annoyed if he keeps seeing them get out. (he's afraid they'll infest our home).

Thanks for the great story. That seems like a decent suggestion if he doesn't want to let the critter go.

Wysi

 

[ScorpDude]

They require different care, how can you cater for them both in one viv? especially when one might try to eat the other.

 

[jarrell]

yeah that sounds cruel your just gonna put a mantis in a scorpion cage to see how long it survives. by now i wokuld hope you got another cage they only cost 10 dollars. but i guess it would be better if you just let him go.

 

[Scorpionidad]

Why not just...

Why don't you do what I did a long time ago and let Mantis walk around the inside of your house? He should stay on the ceiling and chill like one I had. Plus maybe he'll get rid of some pests for ya LOL. Just watch your step in the morning so he don't become a permanent resident of the sole of your shoe...

 

[ScorpDude]

OR... heres a crazy idea.

Let it go? you don't have the correct housing, its days with you are numbered so why keep it?