Was watching this after noticing the huge amount of mantises I’ve been seeing in the tree outside my house. One is so used to me now that it lets me pick it up
Looks great! I will be setting up a similar enclosure for a future pet mantis soon. Recently took in a wild one from the cold and really fell in love with it. I don't believe she has much life left though as she is already quite large (chinese mantis). Planning on looking after her for the rest of her days and setting up a nice tank for an orchid or ghost mantis of some sort
I've been watching your video among others' because I'm migrating my Chinese from his cup to the empty 10 gallon I have I found small rocks for very cheap but what cloth are you using to top off the drainage layer? Other than that, I have my fake plants, coco fiber, and springs + isos coming soon besides leaf litter, do you think I need anything else or would it all be optional? (like Spaghnum etc)
ajazman any rocks would be good for the drainage layer :) and I think coco fibre would break down fast with Isopods in there so you might want to get a bioactive mix. Leaf litter and sphagnum moss is optional so it’s up to you!
You never listed what plants you used! The other one I know is some type of Pothos... did you plant it in the soil or did you just hang it over the branches like a vine? And then what is the dark red plant?
ElectricBlue Aquatics sorry ahaha I used two different types of pothos, Neon and variegated, philodendron scandens, Jewel orchids and peperomia prostrata. I left the peperomia dangling over the branches but I planted all of the others.
Isaac Swift thank you! I arrived at your video cuz after years w all sorts of pets I finally want to tackle my first bio active tank! Most likely will be for a mantis. And I just have so many questions on what plants to use cuz the tank is only 30x30x45 cm and I know how crazy Pothos and philos can grow. I don’t want to drown the tank in plants so that I’ll never see my mantis and it’ll never find it’s food. Are there are any nice, more well behaved plants I could use? I’ll look into orchids cuz I definitely want something with a flower. But for the rest of the plants, any suggestions?
ElectricBlue Aquatics Im not too sure about many flowering plants, but there are thousands of different types of orchids and also flowering bromeliads that you could use!
Isaac Swift I know bromeliads don’t like to be planted they live in the trees like most orchids. Idk if my tank has enough height to to plant something up higher. What about other plants besides bromes and orchids. Stuff that’s just for scenery is but something that doesn’t grow as crazy as Pothos and stays a moderate size in the tank. Any suggestions?
I am about to buy a mantis myself, already have the same enclosure but bigger (not to be that guy). But would you still recommend this? No problems? A little extra curious cus every other video I see uses smaller clear casing instead of the double door mesh top enclosure we have.
that would be completely fine, it doesn’t really matter how big the enclosure is, just make sure that the mantis is able to find its food because it can be harder in a larger enclosure :)
If you are making a bioactive setup then it would need a drainage layer even without plants so that water doesn’t sit in the soil. But you can use artificial plants if you want!! :)
@@isaacswift8950 I actually thought of that, perhaps a suction cup gecko feeding ledge with bowls. I mostly have dubia roaches and blue bottle fly larvae and spikes (which is fine because she’ll eat the emerged flies later if they get lost) but she loves the larvae when they crawl up the wall. The dubias hide forever at the bottom it seems.
@@jenniecogs7214 yeahh I had the same problem with dubias, so I switched to locusts instead - dubias like to hide in dark places so I think the only thing you could do it try them in a cup?
@@isaacswift8950 Ah nice! I see on forums people saying to never feed Mantids crickets but thats all i have right now. Think that is risky? I had a Mantis 10 years ago that only ate crickets are was fine. But the one i have no is an Orchid Mantis.
Aqua Z I would say don’t use dirt from your garden bc they have pests in them and might carry disease, but if you do put it in the oven for a while to sterilise it. You can buy coconut fibre substrate quite cheap online so that’s an option and it’s sterile :)
Aqua Z not sure what you mean by dirt but be careful because some potting soils, that you get a hardware store or Walmart, have fertilizers in them. It's much better to get something from the pet store.