Mantids <Praying Mantis>....anybody interested?

[Jase]

Basically i'm just making this post to gauge interest. I've housed several over the summer, they're actually pretty interesting insects to have around, fairly easy to deal with, semi-handle-able(as long as you have an idea of what your dealing with), and very very very voracious eaters...they have an amazing appetite.

Well...back to my point, i've got a few egg sacks that have been laid at the end of the season. Each sack could produce between 100-1000 babies(which is a ginormous - lol). We plan on trying to keep and raise as many as possible, a few local petstores are very interested in the prospect of buying some of them off of use to sell as pets. I've also seen them sold on insecthobbyist(kinda like kingsnake). Basically i was just seeing if anyone on the site would be interested in any of them after we get them hatched and started. Honestly, i'm not too familiar at all with invertabrete shipping methods, but when the time comes i'm sure i'll have done the homework to ensure a safe/quality delivery method, and if not, i'll probably just deal with them locally. Anyone on here interested? I'll get some pics of the ones i have left....the most beautiful bright green mantid i housed died shortly after laying her egg sack.

The full grown adults are around 6-7in and the color varies between a bright green, and a brownish color - from what i understand the in-species color variance is derived from the humidity levels at birth.

haha...sorry for my novel, i doubt anyone will be interested. Their just a creature i came across by chance as a kid, saw a few this year and said, "might as well give em a nice home and good food for the rest of the year"

p.s.
I've had trouble determining the exact mantis species i have. I'm still working with some local insect hobbyists to get an exact identification.
I've also got some really neat smaller species of mantids that look like they're getting ready to lay as well. They're about 3in, and even easier to deal with than the larger species i have, but they have not laid egg sacks as of yet.

[Brandon.O]

i actually thought about keeping one i found outside......

it was like 11 at night and i was getting home and i saw one on a light post trying to catch the moths that were swarming all around the light, he was having a hard time catching one so i just picked up a moth and threw it at him and WHACK !! he grabbed it and started to eat it alive !!!, i thought it was so cool.

what do you keep them in ? and do you think it would be okay if i took one from the wild ?? and what do you feed them normally ??

[Smulkin]

Kept a bunch as a kid - was always fascinated by them - made my parents once buy me an eggsac from a gardening catalog and hatched it. That was insane. Are these any of the exotic mantids or the regular ones you can find natively?

[Schlyne]

I don't think it would be a big deal if you tried to keep one that you found outside, if you knew how to keep one. I know you can buy batches of mantid's for your garden if you want to go with the organic "use other insects to kill off your unwanted insects" methods. I think I could deal with keeping a mantid. I know I'll never keep spiders. They're neat and all, but not for me. I don't really know what keeping an insect requires (other than honeybee's (another one of those future projects).

How about some pictures Jase?

[Jase]

I'll get some pictures up as soon as i get my digital camera battery charged, pathetically the battery charger is dead and i've been too lazy to go buy a new one.

And keeping one caught in the wild isn't hard at all, basically any container will work, i'd recomend a 10g or so, but i switched my adults into a smaller critter cage when i figured they were going to lay(basically ebcause i know i cant use that cage till the egg start hatching). This year was a pretty good year for them around here, i saw a ton, and being the wierd person i am, i wanted to catch all of them, but restricted myself to a few.

And no, they aren't really exotic, they're both species that i assume are native to the Missouri area, since thats where i got them. I'm really not trying to sell them, i was just seeing if anyone from here wanted them. I'm going to try to raise as many as possible, but that's gonna be hard since one of their first instincts during hatching is to eat each other to ensure a good start for survival.

Basically, if anyone would be interested in what i have left over after giving what i give to local pet stores, i'd pretty much give them away for the cost of shipping and a thank you. I'm just a big herp/insect hobbiest and saw a chance to expose people to something many people haven't kept as pets before.

As for their requirements:
Minimum Housing - medium sized kritter cage(those overpriced crappy cages, lol), a 10g could make an AWESOME environment for a mantid.
Food - i feed crickets, they'll eat anything, from aphids, to crickets, to moths, to bees....even each other, they're equal opportunity feeders, and they will gorge....till they get obese. So i try to keep the adults to 4 large crickets a week. If they get overfed, its not a problem really, they'll just fast once they reach maximum weight. Oh...and they'll get so fat that they'll have trouble climbing and definite trouble flying. So thats really the only thing i'd watch, you'll want their abdomens to look plump, but not so stuffed that they're about to burst

[Brandon.O]

cool ! i didnt know housing one would be so easy !

right now i have a bunch of extra ten gallons and ill be on the look out for them in the garden but its getting cold here so do you think i will find one or no ?

Im goin to see if the garden center here has them or some kind of...........something?? so i could order some.If they come in a few mantids per order ill just pick out one or two that i want and set the rest outside.

[Super_Smash]

i'm definately interested, Jason. If you have any "leftovers," feel free to drop me a PM or IM me!!! my sn is on the bottom of my posts.... holla at me

[Brandon.O]

same here !!

or if you have any adults, i would be intrested in those too.How much $$$ are you asking ?

[Super_Smash]

same here !!

or if you have any adults, i would be intrested in those too.How much $$$ are you asking ?

he said he's giving them away, except the cost of shipping... SHHHHHH dont give him ideas!!

[Brandon.O]

HAHAH.Ok so then how much would shipping be ? i live in newmexico.