I hate sports, but these girls make me a REAL man!

[mass]

And yes, they are ALL females..

I was feeding the roaches when my adult P. miranda came wandering out. Guess she was hungry, so she got fed.

Her last molt..

Sticky pads for KT!!

Freshly molted sub-adult female P. rufilata taking her first meal (adult Death's Head Roach) since the shed. Look Mike, an ARMY green tarantula!!

A $17 adult female Glow Spot Roach.. I traded for a half dozen babies and now they have grown into 3 adult males and 3 adult females. What are the odds? Come on kids make poppa some babies/money!!

Last up is one of my 3 sub-adult C. fimbriatus (Indian Violet)

 

[swords]

Very pretty Ts and a sweet roach too. What do the male glow spots look like?

 

[mass]

they are considerably different.. I'll go take a pic right quick.

Well, my camera is D E D dead.. and my camera camera is a p.o.s. So this is the best pic I could get.

 

[swords]

Different but still looking very cool. We could trade nymphs (mantids for roaches) later on down the road if all goes well for the two of us and our critters.

I like the roaches who look like exotic beetles. I wonder why the beetles and such not popular here in the US? Are they banned like other exotic imports?

Ebay.UK has so many awesome varieties of insect pets I weep every time I look over there but can't buy.

 

[mass]

I don't even tease myself by looking. I would scoop up some Rhino Beetles in a heart beat.

I have some Giant Cave Roach nymphs I could trade ya.

 

[swords]

I'm more interested in these glow spots, are they egg layers? I've read the egg layers eggs take forever to hatch (6mo) so I'd be willing to do eggs for nymphs, if/when I get some ooths to hatch from my trios, so there's no rush on my end, I've got nothing to trade yet.

 

[mass]

Not sure.. they are extremely rare, so there's next to no documentation on them. And even when I get nymphs, I'm not sure I could part with them. There's only one person in the U.S. that is even selling them.

 

[swords]

That's Ok, I can get Glowspot nymphs from Peter if I really need them.

 

[mass]

Peter who?

And what kind of mantids are we talking about? I really want some Ghost Mantids and whatever those other ones were I forget.

 

[swords]

Insect author Peter Clausen from bugsincyberspace.com


Ghosts and Spiny Flowers are the only ones I have, no common species. Though they're becoming common on TF! LOL

 

[mass]

oh geez.. the only 2 I want. So maybe I could part with a few.

 

[swords]

Well all in time, for now it's hypothetical since neither of us has anything to trade yet so who knows. Our cultures may crash before then, but hopefully not! LOL

 

[mass]

Don't jinx us.. I haven't lost a community yet. There's no reason as to why these should be any different. I've been doing this for 10 years and am good at it. So I'm sure I'll be able to fulfill my end in due time.

 

[swords]

Before you get too excited about the idea of mantids remember that you'll need to order blue bottle fly pupae every few weeks or breed the flies yourself on moistened ground dry cat chow and aspen woodchips in those butterfly net cages. Mantids do "hunt" as far as getting into a position to strike but in general they wait for the prey to come by them they won't root around for a roach. Mine will take small crickets on occasion but flies, moths, and other fliers are definitely preferred. It would be nice if there was an easy moth to culture.

 

[mass]

I have large cultures of winged & wingless fruitfly cultures, so I'm good. That and I have access to every size of cricket known to man. So can I get excited again?

 

[swords]

Fruit flies are not the same as blue bottle flies. The mantids will slowly starve if you feed them those. They may not even eat them because they are so small. FF are only good for hatchling nymphs or the miniature metallic colored splendid mantis and ant mantis species who never get bigger than 1". Think about the fat juicy flies you swat on the TV in the summer, those kinda flies are the ones you need - the "real deal" irritating flies! LOL


You hatch the BB fly pupae in a cup and put the buzzing flies in the freezer for 5 mins til they pass out. Pull the cup out and get out your feeding tongs. Put a couple frozen flies in the terrariums and shut the doors, in a few minutes they come back and buzz around to get eaten.

I order my flies from here: http://www.mantisplace.com

I have just received my net cages to try breeding my own and saving $. Shipping is the biggest cost for pupae.

 

[mass]

I use deli cups with vented lids. And I was talking about just using them for nymphs since that's what we were talking about trading for. And I figured bigger crickets for the bigger kids would be fine.

I order my flies from here: http://www.mantisplace.com

Dude.. you suck. Now there's 20 mantids I want!

 

[swords]

The nymphs I'll be sending out will be eating bigger food than fruit flies, houseflies are between fruitflies and Blue bottles. At hatchling stage they are likely too fragile for safe shipping.

Like I said, they will accept small crickets on occasion but flying things like Blue Bottle Flies and moths are their standard fare. BB pupae are easiest, keep them in the fridge up to 3 weeks (if your fridge is about 40*F/5*C like mine less if it's set colder) and hatch them overnight as you need them.

Yea, I use the quart/liter sized FF cups to hatch the flies and then stun them in the freezer. Gut load the flies with powdered milk & sugar in a soda cap. I add bee pollen and honey powder to it so the mantids get a simulacrum of flower pollen in their feeders.


Check out www.mantidforum.net before you get any then you'll get an idea of what's happening out there and a more complete look at husbandry. You do have to join to read the site but it's free so hey!