Praying Mantis!?

[Nobodynotime]

I was browsing the web tonight looking for a new creature small enough to fit in my ever cramping apartment and found my new pet. A praying mantis! I know this is a fish forum but I thought some people might appreciate seeing these things!

http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp349/nobodynotime/fed6_1.jpg
Spiny Flower Mantis

http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp349/nobodynotime/d_hyme1.jpg Orchid Mantis

http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp349/nobodynotime/orchid1.jpg Another Orchid Mantis

I never knew they looked so cool and supposedly they're real easy to take care of, so they won't take away from my tank care which is a plus. You can buy them pretty cheap at ebay.co.uk they are technically sold as 'reptile food'. I'd never feed these to my bearded dragon! They are just to unique and crazy looking as well as beautiful! There are tons of different species, that go from pretty to scary. I just thought I'd share my excitement but I should probably get back to studying!

[Nobodynotime]

Wow just read that back and I sound like the spokesperson for praying mantises everywhere... sorry got a little excited...

[gm72]

No apologies necessary--I love mantises (manti) but didn't know they existed in those variations. I'd be very interested to hear how they do in captivity. Cool! Please keep us closely posted!

[Crispy]

A friend of mine kept a praying mantis just recently and they die off in the fall (we have a cold winter here), but not without laying a ton of eggs in a small cocoon. Not sure if the other types maybe live year round ???

[Nobodynotime]

Yeah I'm trying to figure out their average lifespan, I was planning on putting a little heating pad underneath his terrarium hopefully to keep that from happening, we have pretty cold winters here too, it was snowing like a banshee last night. But, yeah supposedly they're really easy to breed and have tons of babies...I don't know what I'd do with 200 of the little buggers, live food maybe, or I've read gardeners will buy them to put in their gardens, but I'm not really sure how I feel about introducing an invasive species and accidentally singlehandedly bringing about endtimes. (maybe thats a little extreme) I'm waiting till my next pay check to invest in one so I'll let you know how it goes.

[Wild Turkey]

Love manti! Its illegal to kill one here. :) Thanks for the pics those are kool looking specimens. Watching them make kills is awesome.

[Nobodynotime]

I know its awesome. They aren't common in my neck of the woods and one was cruising and hit my friend in the face when we were sitting on the porch, he freaked and thought it was a bird. I picked it up and it was totally ok with it, it just sat on my hand for a while chilled, but by the time my friend got back w/ a container he had decided to move on. It was a plane jane species these one are indigenous to thailand and australia I think. I would never ever kill one in the wild, that be awful. I bet aliens look something like that... Flamboyant aliens!

[Wild Turkey]

I know its awesome. They aren't common in my neck of the woods and one was cruising and hit my friend in the face when we were sitting on the porch, he freaked and thought it was a bird. I picked it up and it was totally ok with it, it just sat on my hand for a while chilled, but by the time my friend got back w/ a container he had decided to move on. It was a plane jane species these one are indigenous to thailand and australia I think. I would never ever kill one in the wild, that be awful. I bet aliens look something like that... Flamboyant aliens!

Let it attack your finger, they can draw blood easily. The are quite vicious for their size, if you ever get the chance to see two fight it out in the wild, stop and check it out. One looses via missing head every time. Doesnt keep them from walking around for a day or two after though. lol

[Nobodynotime]

Let it attack your finger, they can draw blood easily. The are quite vicious for their size, if you ever get the chance to see two fight it out in the wild, stop and check it out. One looses via missing head every time. Doesnt keep them from walking around for a day or two after though. lol

.....that is freaking awesome! The most metal bug ever!
Maybe I should breed and condition them....then set up and underground mantis fighting ring with one of Michael Vicks cousins. HAH! That's awful....

[Wild Turkey]

.....that is freaking awesome! The most metal bug ever!
Maybe I should breed and condition them....then set up and underground mantis fighting ring with one of Michael Vicks cousins. HAH! That's awful....

People do it, but here if you want to see them fight u just have to go outside in the spring really, fighting them is cruel because, yes they do kill eachother and its very very brutal, and usually if one gets the other by the neck, its over. Putting them in such close quarters is completely unfair and unnatural for a flying insect. Its actually kind of a problem, i think thats why they made that law in the first place, not because ppl just squished them, cuz they were fighting them in terrariums. I cant say ive never done anything like that when i was a kid, but adults should really know better. Honestly i probably knew better then.

yes, its one of the best fights you'll ever see....but compare it to fighting two male bettas for fun.....:(

[Nobodynotime]

My previous post was a joke! I hope everyone understands that! I would never dream of doing that! I have a pitbull mix that I believe was used as a fighting dog before he escaped, he has broken tail which is a classic sign of prodding a dog into fighting when it does not want to. That type of conduct is totally immoral with any living creature under your care. Check him out, theres a couple pics of him on the dogs thread. Sorry for my jaded sense of humor

[Wild Turkey]

My previous post was a joke! I hope everyone understands that! I would never dream of doing that! I have a pitbull mix that I believe was used as a fighting dog before he escaped, he has broken tail which is a classic sign of prodding a dog into fighting when it does not want to. That type of conduct is totally immoral with any living creature under your care. Check him out, theres a couple pics of him on the dogs thread. Sorry for my jaded sense of humor

Dont apologize!!! I wasnt accusing you in the least, i realize it was a joke:c2:

Just wanted to bring up that it is an actual problem, thas all. :19:

I think basically how it works is if the run into eachother in the wild and its....
F vs F - fight
M vs M - fight
F vs M - sortof rape/mating then female usually kills male
females are usually bigger.
they are very violent. Thats basically what i remember from seeing them around here a lot.
But if you find two and put them together, one of those usually happens, i guess if you knew more and were trying to mate them it would be different. They have very good eyesight and both pose up as soon as they are within visual range, its quite impressive to see.


Edit
I think you will enjoy this, doesnt bother me so much as the cat would try this outside by himself, and the mantis gets the best of him, also they let it go at the end (seemingly) unharmed. When he zooms in you can see his "hooks" on his legs very well.
UAXatpa9oTw Holding its own against a cat...

[Nobodynotime]

Oh ok good glad you got my sarcasm!
Yeah you can only keep one per terrarium. Supposedly you have to keep a watchful eye on the mating process and pull the male out of the tank right after the deed is done or else its off with his head.
They have a short life expectancy like 6 mo., compared to a scorpion which can live almost 5-9 years if properly taken care of, so I guess it would be beneficial to breed them (if you enjoy the ones you have), I guess they are generally sold in breeding pairs anyways.

[Wild Turkey]

The flatrock scorpion im getting soon is said to live up to 25 years by some sources, so i'll have him til im almost 50..crazy.


Editing in the video later was pointless, whoops guess u'll have to scroll up lol

[Nobodynotime]

Thanks for the vid! Crazy stuff! That was smart not to put its face down by the thing, it could've lost an eye. The one I saw in the wild was much larger than that one, and brown... never seen anything like it, and I do a lot of day packing.
BTW I'm jealous of your scorpion! I looked it up and it looks sweet, and 25 years? Thats like having a conure or a cockatiel.
I've always wanted to get a black emperor scorpion but my gf is not down with the scorpion. She loves the mouse eating frog we have, hates scorpions....I'll never fully understand it!

[Wild Turkey]

Maybe you can convince her eventually, yea im going with the flatrock cuz alot of people have emperors, but they are both quite impressive in both size and nature.

[Nobodynotime]

The flat rock does look quite cool... do you know if it glows under black light like emperors and some other scorpions?

[Wild Turkey]

The flat rock does look quite cool... do you know if it glows under black light like emperors and some other scorpions?

Yup, the color they glow depends on the type though some are blue some are green and most are inbetween somewhere, i think the flatrock is more blueish but i cant quite recall...

[Nobodynotime]

I may be wrong but what I've noticed is the thicker the shell the bluer they are, but that was just an observation I made at a pet shop with a few different types.

[Wild Turkey]

I may be wrong but what I've noticed is the thicker the shell the bluer they are, but that was just an observation I made at a pet shop with a few different types.

Very possible

[Nobodynotime]

Just looking at all these pics of mantids and scorpions online makes me almost sure that these are creatures from outer space deposited on our planet millions of years ago as an intergalactic sleeper cell waiting to take over the earth, but when it happens we'll be spared because we treated these aliens kindly and brought them into our homes...... and now you have a brief picture into where my mind wanders to...