My girl has just bought me my first Mantid! Advice...

[scaramanga]

Hi there, im new to the mantis scene after my lady bought me an indian flower mantid for my birthday (total suprise, she usually hates bugs and won't go near them). I was just looking for advice really. I already have three tarantuals so i have a little experience in keeping exotic pets.

One thing that is concerning me at the moment it the substrate in the tank. Its that silvery stuff (vericulm?) The mantid seems to stumble around when walking on it and when it strikes it often has a big lump of it stuck to its... erm... claw/grabbers.

Also, its around a centimeter in length. How big shold the tank be? Some kind of ratio? I really fascinated by these little buggers and was thinking of getting a dead leaf mantid as they grow a lot bigger than my lil indian flower.

Just general advice really please

ALSO... Is it best just getting fake flowers to stick in the tank and is peat ok for the substrate?

 

[Sheldy]

here's what you do...
if your lady friend hates bugs that much and buys you a mantis, then you marry her!
Ok Indian - so its either pseudocreobroter whalbergi, or ocelata, or its a type of creobroter species? Howver i think its most likly a pseudocreobroter whalbergi?
I've never had a croborter before, (i asked for some advice with them on this board a couple of days ago) However i have kept many pseudocreobrter before. First off, pseudocreobroter species is a wonderful species to keep, Although they can be a bit of a nightmare at times! They need the humidity at about 60%, the temperature needs to be about 25-30c and substrate should be fine. I usually find that my mantids will rarely venture onto it from their vantage point, but if they miss their prey they may well end up with a chunk of it on their arm, which they will flick off, however it has never caused any problems.
Also make sure these guys have alot of ventilation as too little can be really dangerous for them!
As for tank size, these guys really dont need that much at all, but hey; they do look amazing so you might want a large tank with some decoration to compliment. As for fake flowers - go for it! they wont care! they may well addapt to the colour of the plant you put inside, which is always something good to see!
As for the dead leaf mantids, i have kept dessicata and i am currently keeping them. They are awsome ltitle creatures, they do look great, grow big and have a huge appatite, but they do require high levels of humidity, if you do get some i advise using potting soil instead of substrate - microwaving it (to kill all the nasties). I have found this works better as it helps maintain humidity.
One last thing, Myself and a friend have found that blue bottle flies can really be lethal for these things... why, we dont know, but they have wiped out multiple mantids before we realsied. He now uses housefleis i believe, just feed on crickets and lobster roaches now.

I hope this is helpful, ive been told i do tend to ramble... oh look im doing it again....

 

[scaramanga]

its all good matey. Im very tempted to start some matid collection. Find them amazing creatures

So would it be a bad idea to possibly mix peat with the substrate thats in there now? Is peat a bad thing?

 

[Jesse607]

Usually "Indian flower mantis" is the common name given to Creoboter meleagris, and other species of that genus. I personally do not keep substrate in any of my mantid enclosures, for several reasons (which I won't get into right now). There is a small amount of info on this species at www.mantisuk.com

enjoy