WC Mantis...set her free?

[spider pest]

Well, autumn is in full swing, and she is not happy in her enclosure. She used to just hang out on her sticks, but lately she's just clawing at the top. Still eating, but watching her like that isn't very fun and feels kind of crappy. What do you think? Let the old gal out into the fall or keep her fed and warm until the end?

Thanks!

 

[Moltar]

Tough call. If you set her loose now she'll probably die from the cold within days or maybe a week or two. If you keep her she may last a bit longer but if all she does is try constantly to escape well, whare's the fun in that?

A few years back I captured an adult female mantis right outside my front door right around this time of year. Temps were projected to drop below freezing that night (indeed, it was below 40 when I found her) so I figured if I didn't bring her in she'd die that evening. I ended up keeping her as a "free range" pet and she lived for a couple of months on the potted ficus bush in my living room. Eventually she just fell off the tree and died, presumably from old age. It was still a fun pet to have and she was ok with being handled, hand fed, etc. She also left me an oothecae hidden in the tree that I didn't see until too late... FYI: mantis eggs will hatch early if they aren't kept in the cold.

 

[cacoseraph]

keep her. flush her down the toilet if you are not comfortable watching her anymore.



the last thing you should do is let something go once it has been in your collection for any amountof time. i have done research on the subject and bugs have every bit as rich a pathogen/sickness scene as do humans... and we KNOW that we can transfer disease and pathogens between humans quite easily

 

[spider pest]

keep her. flush her down the toilet if you are not comfortable watching her anymore.

the last thing you should do is let something go once it has been in your collection for any amountof time. i have done research on the subject and bugs have every bit as rich a pathogen/sickness scene as do humans... and we KNOW that we can transfer disease and pathogens between humans quite easily

Good call. I'll stick it out. Much appreciated. She's actually a little calmer the past couple days.

 

[loxoscelesfear]

Pin it out. A mantis mounted out looks really awesome. Start a bug collection. Just a suggestion

 

[fantasticp]

i have done research on the subject and bugs have every bit as rich a pathogen/sickness scene as do humans... and we KNOW that we can transfer disease and pathogens between humans quite easily

Which bugs???? Butterflies raised for legal release for all sorts of events have had many studies done on them and although they do not allow west coast and east coast monarchs to comingle for fear of pathogens, all studies have proven no pathogens in monarchs and butterflies raised for release have been passed to wild butterflies in this manner. You'll have to be more specific than "bugs"

 

[cacoseraph]

i couldn't even understand what your post was supposed to mean until i woke up this morning



you seriously suggest that bugs don't have pathogens? really? did you do *any* research?


oh, and when i googled monarch pathogens the first couple pages supported me (i.e. detailing various pathogens and what not... not a carte blanche) so i don't know what study you are thinking of... but i suspect it wasn't a very good one or you were completely misunderstanding it. also, there is a HUGE difference between bugs that you feed on plants and sugar water (caterpillars & butterflies) versus something that has probably been eating nasty petstore crickets. also, people in the hobby can have bugs from all over, WC, sometimes with their native dirt still on them. HUGE difference compared to ordering some eggs out of a catalog. (though, there are plenty of pathogens that propagate though eggs from the mom, so even there infection is possible)



as a for instance, google walbachia and rickettsia bacteria. they were some of the most interesting stuff i found when i was researching this kind of thing