Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there, My baby Manti are growing like little weeds. I too bought some from Cal. silkworm and was wondering what all do you feed them? I've given than aphids from my roses, I have a culture of fruit flies that Tyler gave and I dump the adults in every day, and I put some pin head crickets in there tank as well. Do you think they would eat baby silkworms?? And should I give them some fresh leaves? They are about 1/2 inch long now. How big are yours?
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 boyfriend- Trent species unknown

Tragedy struck my mantids.
They hatched out just a few days prior to my move to my new house. I put them in their new bug closet at the new house and they all died with 24 hours of their move. I was left with only ONE mantid in from each ootheca, so I only have 2 left. That being said, I'm probably not the best source of information on raising mantids, but I will share my experience.
I've been feeding fruit fly and pinhead crickets. Bernie doesn't like the mantids, but she mists them several times a day just the same. These two survivors are barely about an inch long, but I'm very surprised to even have them ALIVE at this point. It's also difficult to gauge their true size, as they're wispy lil guys, with skinny, elongated bodies and HUGE HUGE eyes that kinda make em look like a baby tootsie pop! We keep them out in the laundry room, the warmest room in the house. It's usually about 95, day and night. Maybe that's why they're growing so fast.
I don't see any reason why NOT to try silkworms with your mantids. I would think that it would be beneficial to provide as varied a diet for them as possible. I almost wish we had mantids available for the mantids!
One thing I've noticed is that mine REALLY love to be misted. Must be the dry heat, but they look like their basking when I mist them. Sorta remind me of lil chameleons.
Also- what color are your mantids? Mine were pale brown at first, but they've begun showing more green lately.
I tell ya- these mantids are a heck of a lot of fun! I feel bad about losing almost all of them, but I'm gonna grow more next year to be sure! I would DEFINITELY reccommend growing these guys as a fun project.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Hi there, I was a bad mantis mom. I put the two sacks I got from Cal.s.w. In a tall tupperware container made a big hole in the lid and used an old t-shirt to cover the hole from the inside. I misted them everyday for about two weeks, then I stuck them in the closet and forgot about them. that closet is the coolest room in the house. . When I was cleaning everything out this weekend, I found them and about 200 of them had hatched and they were HUNGRY! of course all I had was some fruit flies so I gave the little ones those and they attacked them with no problem, so I went around my yard and cut off all the roses that had aphids on them and fed them those as well. I put some pin heads in there but I haven't seen anyone eating them. I only mist the tshirt once a day, but they all hang from it drinking. I also put some Fluckers cricket quencher meant for the pinheads, but I notice the babies on there too. I'm guessing they are barely over a week old and they are still brown. They are soo cute, when I open the lid to put in the flies they all run to the top and peak out. Not very many try to escape, but the ones that do hop around like little rabbits.
This is my first time with them, but I'll definatley do it again!!
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 boyfriend- Trent species unknown

I used 32 oz deli cups and this really neat gauzy material that Bernie got for me from Wal-Mart's cloth dept. I put in some small pieces of manzanita wood, and about 2 inches of coco-fiber on the bottom. I keep the coco-fiber CONSTANTLY moist to increase the humidity.
Originally, I planned to run a bunch of deli cups with this set up, running about 5-10 mantids per container, allowing them to cull themselves down or feeding off excess mantids to my chameleons. Least that was the plan!
Now I have ONE mantid in each container. Here's a picture of the setup:

It's basically the SAME setup I used to temporarily house the geckos that I found around the house.... picture of them enclosed as well!

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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Looks exactly like my set up only smaller. I used a 1 gallon and I used orchid bark on the bottom. I didn't use any special light or anything, I just keep them cool. I think the t-shirt material might hold in water for them all day, I just change it out every few days. What are you going to do with your two? I have a small globe eyed tree-frog that I'm going to see if he likes them in a few weeks. My local pet store is looking for some too, so I might have to do some wheeling and dealing and them? I'm not sure how many more I'll get when the other sack hatches, But I'll have to seperate them so the new babies don't become breakfast!
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 boyfriend- Trent species unknown

Like I said, originally I planned to raise them mostly as prey items for my herps, and hold some back to breed for next year. I also thought about using them for barter/trade, but I think the USDA just banned the sale of exotic mantids as pets.
Personally, I would keep a low profile on your mantids. They are allowed as an agricultural pest deterrent, but I wouldn't want the USDA to kick my doors in, trying to confiscate my bugs.
Oh hey... there was someone else raising mantids, I forget who. But he posted a pic of his young uns on a Scooby paper towel! I wonder how those mantids are doing?
One thing that I would love to do is to create some sort of bug exchange. Perhaps make some of our excess ootheca eggs or mantids available for trade? Of couse, I have no extras, but I'd love to get some extra oothecas for next year.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi@yahoo.com