more of my mantids...and maybe gecko or two

[warpdrive]

Hi everyone,

here are some more of my Mantids...

Tiffiny the flower child eating

Tiffiny says "this is what a well gutloaded cricket is like"....gutload was Cricket Crack and slice of orange

L5 Male Ghost eating a housefly

a baby budwing I think, cleaning it's foot

Male Crestie Dalmatian given to my nephew on Sunday from my collection

tell me this Tangerien reverse pin is not cute as a button

I hope you enjoyed,
Harry

 

[donnak0125]

THAT IS SO COOL!! I saw you pics of the tiny ones on a link you had a while back. So, you raise the mantids??? They are so beautiful. Great pics!!!! You raise them for fun? Food? I don't know much about raising insects and such for pets! Tell me about it when you have time!

 

[sagemoon2004]

The mantids are really fascinating, even my 4 yr old daughter digs the pics. I think we will have to do some research, I may contact you someday on a purchase. Research first, though. Love the pictures, and I have always loved insects. My first catch in my bug catcher as a child was a common praying mantis, once it ripped the head of the cricket I gave it, I had to let it go. Nowadays I have no problem with feeding insects, but at five yrs old, it made me sick.

 

[warpdrive]

thanks for the sweet comments.

most mantids are quite easy to raise and enjoy. Ghosts are an easy starter mantid.
I'm telling you, they are so simple to keep, you will wonder why you have never tryed them before. The Ghost mantis can be housed together as cannibalism is not the rule. Have enough food and perching places available, and you have yourself a breeding colony!
they make the perfect pet. (shhhh, don't tell anyone. but they come from Madigascar and central Africa, from Camaroon to Somalea. so they make the perfect natural feeder for most of our Chameleons.)

another good starter mantid is the Creobroter type flower mantids.
they do need to be housed in their own container, but they eat anything and are a joy to have. my female pictured above FREE RANGES almost every day on a group of flowers on my coffee table. she never leaves the flowers unless I remove her. and I hand feed her most of the time at this point. she also loves to watch TV...no joke.

just don't be fooled by cheap prices. many in the hobby don't know how to ship in cold or hot weather. as a result, you may get a few DOA or deaths a few days later. so in the end, you will be paying the higher price per insect, yet not have the amount you were looking for. most in the hobby find this normal, but I don't. that is why I take every mesure to ship properly, even if the costs are a drop more for shipping.

while I am now selling mantids, please feel free to ask me any questions that you may have, even if you don't want to buy from me. I do have an ad on the classifieds for the two above mantids. yet soon, you will see more avalible for people who may have tryed mantids already. the Ghosts and Creos will mostly always be avalible as they make a great starter mantid.

thank you for enjoying the photos.

Harry

 

[sagemoon2004]

Honestly I prefer to support forum members in their endeavors! So, I would order from you when ready, and if available. The hard part is convincing my fiance that it's okay, he already thinks I am nuts! My daughter would love it, though. Thanks for the info!

 

[donnak0125]

That is something I may be interested in. I watched mantises all summer at night while hunting katydids for my cham. They both hang-out together in the same flowers, walls and a large fig tree next to my flood light. There were brown, long skinny mantises there and I also found some, long, fat, luscious, green ones on my rose bushes. They all are beautiful, aggressive, and have intense focus while hunting. They watch me as much as I watch them; it's really odd when I notice one staring at and studying me. Anytime I see a large, wild flutter of wings around the flood light I've learned it's a mantis or katydid.
Warpdrive: do your tiny ghost mantises stay so small or are those just babies? They are cute! I like the big fat mantises better just cause they are easier to see, but they are all beautiful. I saw one on TV that is pure white and looks exactly like part of the white orchid it hangs-out on, very stealthy . Man, it was beautiful!!!!

 

[donnak0125]

thanks for the sweet comments.

most mantids are quite easy to raise and enjoy. Ghosts are an easy starter mantid.
I'm telling you, they are so simple to keep, you will wonder why you have never tryed them before. The Ghost mantis can be housed together as cannibalism is not the rule. Have enough food and perching places available, and you have yourself a breeding colony!
they make the perfect pet. (shhhh, don't tell anyone. but they come from Madigascar and central Africa, from Camaroon to Somalea. so they make the perfect natural feeder for most of our Chameleons.)

another good starter mantid is the Creobroter type flower mantids.
they do need to be housed in their own container, but they eat anything and are a joy to have. my female pictured above FREE RANGES almost every day on a group of flowers on my coffee table. she never leaves the flowers unless I remove her. and I hand feed her most of the time at this point. she also loves to watch TV...no joke.

just don't be fooled by cheap prices. many in the hobby don't know how to ship in cold or hot weather. as a result, you may get a few DOA or deaths a few days later. so in the end, you will be paying the higher price per insect, yet not have the amount you were looking for. most in the hobby find this normal, but I don't. that is why I take every mesure to ship properly, even if the costs are a drop more for shipping.

while I am now selling mantids, please feel free to ask me any questions that you may have, even if you don't want to buy from me. I do have an ad on the classifieds for the two above mantids. yet soon, you will see more avalible for people who may have tryed mantids already. the Ghosts and Creos will mostly always be avalible as they make a great starter mantid.

thank you for enjoying the photos.

Harry

Oh, Your gecko's not to shabby either.

 

[jojackson]

Harry mate, either your a heck of a photographer or you've got a camera that would make a Japanese tourist blush with shame!
The geck tongue shot is just incredible, such detail!
I hope your not wasting such talent, that photo is worthy of any professional photographer and would be at home in national geographic, or for that matter, a gallery.
Ive seen more macro shots than you could poke a short stick at, but that one just blows me away! Im swapping the quad on my desktop for that one!

 

[donnak0125]

yep, downright, righteous photography.

 

[warpdrive]

Harry mate, either your a heck of a photographer or you've got a camera that would make a Japanese tourist blush with shame!
The geck tongue shot is just incredible, such detail!
I hope your not wasting such talent, that photo is worthy of any professional photographer and would be at home in national geographic, or for that matter, a gallery.
Ive seen more macro shots than you could poke a short stick at, but that one just blows me away! Im swapping the quad on my desktop for that one!

WHAT? NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
don't take Quadzilla off your desktop!!! Please, when he reads this he will stop eating for a week!

thank you JJ for the kind words about my photography. I used to do it for a living. yes I've been published, but it's been a long time ago in a galexy, far, far, away.

I'm only using a Canon G9. a point and shoot no less. if I win the lottery I'll get the 7D and a 100mm L macro lens with a ring light...then I'll take some hot shots.

Harry

 

[warpdrive]

Warpdrive: do your tiny ghost mantises stay so small or are those just babies? They are cute! I like the big fat mantises better just cause they are easier to see, but they are all beautiful. I saw one on TV that is pure white and looks exactly like part of the white orchid it hangs-out on, very stealthy . Man, it was beautiful!!!!

the Ghosts get to be about 2 1/2" - 3". the Creo gets to be about 2".
the budwing females get to be 3" - 3 1/2", but the males get to only 1 1/2".

oh, and that Adult Creo flower mantid took down a BIG adult male cricket...that's not big enough?

you are also talking about an Orchid flower mantis. the females are also big and the males are tiny. summer time bro, they are comming to a forum near you in the summer time.

more info on what I'm doing here...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/ghost-mantids-gems-52360/#post493155

Harry

 

[donnak0125]

Man those ghosts are freaky-cool look'n. Look like brown leaves glued together, and there was a green one too!

 

[laurie]

Harry mate, either your a heck of a photographer or you've got a camera that would make a Japanese tourist blush with shame!
The geck tongue shot is just incredible, such detail!
I hope your not wasting such talent, that photo is worthy of any professional photographer and would be at home in national geographic, or for that matter, a gallery.
Ive seen more macro shots than you could poke a short stick at, but that one just blows me away! Im swapping the quad on my desktop for that one!

Dan if you even consider taking a quad off your desktop for a mantis, i will be heading over to see you!! enough is enough.

 

[warpdrive]

Man those ghosts are freaky-cool look'n. Look like brown leaves glued together, and there was a green one too!

Ghosts are the "African Dead Leaf" mantid. yet they do look like half dead and half alive leafs once full grown with wings. they come in 4 colors. Reddish-Brown, Black, Grayish, and the rare Green. of my up and comming breeders, I have now 3 Green Ghosts. the rest are reddish-brown.

in a few hours I'll have a new set of dead leaf mantids D. Lobata that come from Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sumatra. but not the normal kind that are Brown or Black. oh, no, we have to go all out and get some ultra rare pale White kind (more white then the photo bellow).
it's so rare right now, that some say it may even be a new un-named type altogether.

tell me this doesn't look like a dead leaf with her ooth...

(note: Photo by Yen Saw)

yet Ghosts are still my favorite. they are so kewl looking and make a great pet.

Harry

 

[warpdrive]

Dan if you even consider taking a quad off your desktop for a mantis, i will be heading over to see you!! enough is enough.

HAHAHAHAHA
he's talking about the Gecko shot Laurie, not a mantis.
(see folks, Laurie's got mantis on the brain. she can't stop thinking about them. it's the first sign of someone who is going to get a ton of them in the spring. )

Harry

 

[ijmccollum]

Gotta say after looking at your bugs I am kind of liking the idea of trying a mantis. Wonder if the hubby would let me keep it at home or if I would have to keep it at the office. I know I would have to keep a T. at the office. Think I'll do some lit searches. Thanks Harry for sharing. haha, that rhymed but didn't mean to.

 

[warpdrive]

Gotta say after looking at your bugs I am kind of liking the idea of trying a mantis. Wonder if the hubby would let me keep it at home or if I would have to keep it at the office. I know I would have to keep a T. at the office. Think I'll do some lit searches. Thanks Harry for sharing. haha, that rhymed but didn't mean to.

sweetheart, you would have to keep a T. in the next state if I was your hubby.
but thanks for the kind words.

Harry

 

[ijmccollum]

sweetheart, you would have to keep a T. in the next state if I was your hubby.
but thanks for the kind words.

Harry

yeah, I put the poor guy through quite a bit, but we will be celebrating our 25th come this April.

 

[jojackson]

No worrys Harry Mate, Ive saved that sweet Quad, he'll end up back on the desktop, no doubt. It's just that gex shot struck me as exceptional, I guess we dont really look at anything anymore, which is a shame, Im guilting of taking natures sheer awesomeness for granted. Keep 'em coming..please!

P.S Laurie, though the insect world is not one of my primary interests, I find them incredible no less and I can appreciate their beauty for sure.
Mantids strike me as the rock stars of the insect world, they seem to demand, 'look at me'! They definately have character of a kind.

 

[Miss Lily]

Ugh! Should I be pleased that you named one of those icky things after me?! They give me the creeps! The geckos are beautiful, but the mantids much less so!