Reptile & Amphibian Forums

As a teenager I once ordered some mantis egg cases from a garden supplier. They were intended to be used to fight garden pests.

I bought them with keeping them as pets in mind. I put one egg case in a paper bag in the window and gave the other cases away.
They hatched and I had what seemed like a million mantises. I kept a few. They certainley were not exotic and tropical but they were healthy and great pets. I don't think they live much longer than one season. Got pretty big and were voracious eaters. I would turn on the back porch light at night and catch moths and whatever else gatherd round for my mantis food.
I remember they were so hardy that I kept two of them without a terrarrium. I simply left them hang out on two different house plants away from each other. They just stayed there and waited for me to feed and spray them. They were friendly and never tried to bite or claw me. Never ran away when I reached for them. My brother kept his in his kitchen window sill. It stayed there and never left.

I'm thinking about trying them again. Anyone else keep these wonderful insects?

Rich

Oh yea. I once heard that all american mantises came here from china. Anyone know?

Introduced species:
The chinese mantis (Tenedora sinensis): China
The European mantis (Mantis religiosa): Europe
The narrow winged mantis (Tenedora augustipennis): Asia
Mediterranean mantis (Iris oratoria): Mediterranean region

Plus there are many native mantids, the most common being Stagmomantis carolina (Carolina mantis)

You are not going to find them all in the same area of the country.

You probably had chinese mantids as they are usually what you get when you order egg cases. They are a common mantis in the US originating from China a long time ago. I still keep a few as they are a good, easy to keep large species. But they do only live for one warm season but the eggs survive the winter. I kept just those for a long time but now I have some Giant Indians, Africans, carolinas, and the chinese. Also check out www.mantidforum.com