Caresheets

Mantis

GENERAL CARE:Your praying mantis is an insect and feeds entirely on live foods. The mantis must be kept in a tall cage so that it can moult, ideally choose a tall sweet jar or a plastic aquarium, as sold in your local pet shop. Provide several twigs in the container so that your mantis can get a secure footing when it moults. Room temperature is required for most common mantis. It is important NOT to put the cage in direct sunlight (i.e. on a windowsill) as it will overheat and cook your pet!

 

FEEDING:Mantis will only eat live food and their feeding response is triggered by the movement of the prey. Fed twice a week they will thrive. Feed on crickets from your local pet shop or any insect from the garden, such as flies, small grasshoppers or moths (making sure they are not collected from an area that is sprayed with insecticide). The mantis will tackle prey up to its own size, however, to ensure it is not injured in a struggle, choose insects half its own size or smaller. Mantis need water to drink and so will often benefit from a light misting every time they are fed.
BREEDING:After about 4-5 weeks as an adult place the adult male in a large container(2' x 2') and feed the female as much as she can eat; when she is fully gorged introduce the female into the cage with the male. The male should approach the female and will leap on her back and will start to copulate by joining abdomens. The female may often eat her partner before, during or after copulation, so beware. After mating remove the male. The female will now lay fertile ootheca.
GROWTH:The mantis endures several moults before reaching maturity during which time you must ensure that it is not disturbed, as a bad moult often results in deformity or death. The final moult will be obvious as your insect will now have a fine pair of wings and generally can fly. The mantis must have enough room (at least twice the length of its body) to be able to successfully moult.

OOTHECA:The female, after mating, stores sperm and so should always lay fertile ootheca. She starts to lay her eggs in a foam which she whips into a froth around the eggs and which then hardens to form an ootheca. The eggcase should hatch after 4-6 weeks giving you between 20 and 150 tiny mantis hatchlings. Feed these on fruit fly until small nymphs and then start the process over again!.

 

Scorpion

 DESERT :At least 3"-4" of either silver sand or grit (as sold in petshops for birds) as a substrate. A heatpad should be used to maintain a temperature of 80°-95° but placed on the end or side of the terrarium, not underneath as scorpions often burrow to cool off. There is little need to spray as humidity is not required at all. A hide should be provided for the comfort of the scorpion and special lighting is not required unless a heat lamp is being used.

TEMPERATE: at least 3"-4" of either peat, vermiculite or leaf litter as a substrate. Provide a hide or two covered over with moss or leaf litter and add the odd plant to make a natural setting. Room temperature is sufficient and occasional spraying will keep up a moderate humidity of about 50°.

Care should be taken with feeding scorpions as they are prone to overeat, in which case they can literally eat themselves to death. Only give as much as can be eaten in a short period (two adult crickets once a week is enough for a large adult scorpion). Feed on any moving insect prey such as crickets, grasshoppers, locusts.

RAINFOREST: As for temperate species above, except keep a larger proportion of sphagnum moss in the terrarium (perhaps covering the hide, though not so much as to obstruct the walkabout areas) Spray the moss regularly so as to keep humidity at 70° -80° , and maintain a temperature slightly above room temperature.

Some species can be kept communally , others are loners. All terrariums must have tight fitting lids. Supply a dish of water which is large enough for the scorpion to dip its large front claws into to scoop up water to drink.

 

 

Millipedes

 There are over 6000 species of millipede worldwide, some tropical species up to 12" long.Millipedes may be kept communally in any high-sided container with a tight fitting lid, with either air holes or mesh to allow the passage of ventilating air which stops the build up of a stale atmosphere and fungus/mould.Place a substrate of humus in the bottom of the cage (the top 1" of soil under a deciduous tree is ideal) together with a handful of rotting leaves. The soil/humus mixture should be kept moist to the touch at all times.Feed with pieces of cucumber, and experiment with a variety of different vegetable peels and fruit. Every so often grate a cuttlefish over the food to add calcium to the diet.Keep at room temperature in a normal or subdued light and occasionally mist the cage with fresh water, which will give valued drinking water as well as keeping up the humidity.Clean out the cage periodically by taking away the top layer of substrate and replacing with new, dependent on the number of millipedes being kept. Do not take out all the substrate as eggs will have been laid and baby millipedes get some of the vital bacteria into their gut by eating adult faeces.

Cockroaches

 Pest or pet? Of course it's your decision but don't expect many people to understand you! Personally I think they are fascinating.Keep the cockroach in exactly the same way as the millipede as described above, but clean the whole tank on a more regular basis, probably monthly depending on the number being kept. Feed on pieces of bread, fruit, vegetable greens and a small pot of oats/wheat and rabbit food pellets. Supply a shallow dish of drinking water which should be refreshed regularly.Keeping males and females together will result in a mini population explosion so beware!

Fruit Beetle

 HOUSING:Fruit beetles are one of the easiest insects to keep and can be kept in any container which enables you to lay down at least 7-8 inches of substrate, together with some space above for the adult beetles. A lid is required as the beetles can often fly!

SUBSTRATE:The substrate is put in for the beetles to lay their eggs in and for the grubs to grow in and feed on. The grubs digest the substrate and pass the waste out whilst they grow. The substrate should be a mix of rotten crumbling wood and leaf mould which can easily be obtained from your local wood or forest, it is best to collect from areas under deciduous trees, and the addition of fruit will complete their needs. Try not to let the top of the substrate dry out, but keep it moist at all times.

ADULT:The adult beetle is fun to watch and bumbles around on the surface eating fruit and mating and sometimes flying. Adult males may fight over females, and they can be identified as having an indentation on the underside running down the line of the body.

GRUBS:The grubs grow rapidly and ideally should not be handled too often. They spend their lives in the substrate out of view until they form a hard cocoon around themselves and turn into the adult beetle.

GENERAL:Most beetles you will come across are from the tropics and therefore should be kept at 20-30°c for optimum growth. At this temperature range a complete life cycle will take place in about 6-7 months. Lower temperatures will extend the life cycle. Anything less than room temperature is too low and may kill the grubs.