View Full Version : my other pets
jadefoodog
12-22-2005, 11:54 AM
heres my older mendica
http://www.plantsanddirt.com/e107_plugins/kig_menu/_imagefiles/bmendica1223051.jpg
heres a sub macro its not a true macro but its the closest i can come without a 500 dollar lens
http://www.plantsanddirt.com/e107_plugins/kig_menu/_imagefiles/bmendicamacro.jpg
and my favorite chinese (wish i coulda got a pic of his abdomen the design on there reminds me alot of a budwing)
http://www.plantsanddirt.com/e107_plugins/kig_menu/_imagefiles/chinese1.jpg
OrionGirl
12-22-2005, 11:59 AM
Very cool! I've always been fascinated with these guys and mantises. Maybe I'll see about keeping some once I move to CA. What are your setups like? Feeding?
jadefoodog
12-22-2005, 12:20 PM
mantids are the opposite of fish , you gotta make sure the house isnt too big or its hard for them to get food.
feeding is easy after a certain age . they eat just about anything that wont eat them ( crickets , roaches , any kind of bug , bigger ones sometimes eat mice and humming birds in the wild.) most of the feeders you can get at a petstore.and before they can handle all that you feed them fruit flies.
my b. mendica the spiky one is a little over an inch long and i just moved him into one of those tiny betta containers. but for the small ones deli cups with lids or i use gladware cause its cheap and durable. easy to wash. they only live about a year but if you get into breeding them you never run out lol.
oh some are easy some are hard some are cheap and some are a fortune (kinda like fish)
OrionGirl
12-22-2005, 12:23 PM
Yeah--I think part of why I think they are so cool is that they are pretty uncommon locally. I've only ever seen maybe 2 or 3, but my husband saw a hatching of them this past summer. Interesting critters!
jadefoodog
12-22-2005, 12:29 PM
i hatched an ooth (eggcase) of chinese this fall had over 100 babies. sent a bunch out. once they start hunting stuff you will get addicted to watching them stalk down crickets , it can be kinda gross for people with soft stomachs cause they eat food while its alive. talk about freshness garenteed
OrionGirl
12-22-2005, 12:33 PM
Nah, doesn't gross me out. My sister keeps a black widow spider--she bundles up crickets to keep them 'fresh'. (the spider, not my sister :laugh: ). And, I kept snakes as a kid, used to catch tadpoles and big grasshoppers for them. I'm not squeemish. I think they are cool to watch--the cock-eyed, speculative look is so personable!
reiverix
12-22-2005, 12:40 PM
When I lived in Michigan I found a mantis in our yard. I thought it was fascinating (not being from the states) and had only seen them in pet shops. I had it on the kitchen table for about an hour to study it and then let it go free. I'm sure I have a photo of it somewhere. Coolest insect ever.
jadefoodog
12-22-2005, 2:06 PM
yeah i just buy a dozen crickets every couple days from the petshop its only liek a dollar or so
jadefoodog
12-22-2005, 2:11 PM
When I lived in Michigan I found a mantis in our yard. I thought it was fascinating (not being from the states) and had only seen them in pet shops. I had it on the kitchen table for about an hour to study it and then let it go free. I'm sure I have a photo of it somewhere. Coolest insect ever.
i know more people in europe and the UK that have mantids than in the US. if your in the UK i could tell you some absolutly awsome people. in fact most mantids come from europe and africa the us only has stagmomantis carolina , gaminins thespudia and stagmomantis arizona as its only native speices although the chinese species has made areas around florida and the south its home
africa has the most and best hands down but asia has some cool ones too.
my b. mendica are a desert species from africa and are my favorite
and my chinese, well they are from asia (go figure)
We found a nice sized praying mantis in our yard a few years back. We put it in a smaller pet tote container and fed it flies and moths and just about anything we could find that moved and was small enough for it..lol...it was a very cool and interesting short term project for me and the kids. We kept it for a couple of weeks and then let it go.
reiverix
12-22-2005, 8:10 PM
I knew I'd find it.
http://truescotland.com/mantis.jpg
jadefoodog
12-22-2005, 10:37 PM
looks liek an adult male chinese
most of the time a females wings wont exstend past the abdomen
also a males abdomen has 8 segment a females has 6