Do any PHers keep invertebrates?

[Resolutionary]

Hi all,

I've had a search but couldn't find anything and it's clear from posts in this section that you guys have a huge variety of pets amongst you - but they're mainly mammalian.

I've been fascinated by inverts for a long time - spiders, stick insects, butterflies etc - and this year I got my first praying mantis. He's an African Lined Mantis named Montezuma (Monty for short) and I picked him up in March after his fourth shed:



By June he looked much, much different:



Then, earlier this month I found out that Monty is in fact Monica, and had laid herself an egg sack (called an 'ootheca' or ooth):



Turns out that some species can reproduce through a process called parthenogenesis by which they replicate information from hereditary sperm cells to effectively recreate themselves. The ooth has now been moved to another tank for incubation in the hope of some lovely littl'uns in the coming months - they'll all be female if they hatch.

In my relatively short time with Monica I've learned so much about their growth, feeding habits and temperaments - they're really enigmatic creatures and the hunt / strike is awe inspiring!

So, do any of you lovely beings have invertebrates / insects / creepy crawlies to share, or am I a bit of a freak?

[Timmy40]

In my tank I have some, a blue legged hermit crab, cleaner shrimp, boxer shrimp and a green emerald crab. My favouriote is the hermit crab, the algae on his shell has grown really long so he looks like ZZ Top. Must give him a haircut sometime!

[Resolutionary]

That's awesome - I love hermit crabs! Heard they're quite easy to keep too, might have to venture down the crustacean route soon!

Do you have any photos of them?

[Nightmare]

That's brilliant - really hope you get baby mantids (mantiseses?!). Great pics too! Always quite fancied one myself but only got reptiles at the mo

[otolith]

I've got a dozen Amano shrimp in my large planted tank - they're in there to eat algae, but they're interesting critters in their own right.

[Jasandjules]

As above, I have hermits, snails, I have a cucumber, a Boxer Shrimp and a Purple Lobster..

[PoleDriver]

That's a lot of invertebrates euphemisms!

[Resolutionary]

PoleDriver said:

That's a lot of invertebrates euphemisms!

Someone had to say it! Sounds like an awesome collection JasandJules.

Nightmare said:

That's brilliant - really hope you get baby mantids (mantiseses?!). Great pics too! Always quite fancied one myself but only got reptiles at the mo

Thanks - love taking photos of Monica, she's a real poser.

Amazingly, she laid another egg sac last week! So I now have two, which I hope will be fruitful and could see me the proud owner of up to 200 of the little beauties! I will keep y'all posted on progress.

Also, I'm looking to get hold of some leaf bugs this weekend - always found them utterly fascinating in their own right, and they eat privet so very easy to keep happy!

[Issi]

How much could you sell the babies for? You could be a mantis millionaire!

[Resolutionary]

I bought Monica as a nymph on his / her 3rd shed (they shed 7 times in total) and she cost me £10.

First or second shedded baby mantids are quite easy to look after, but it's difficult to guarantee a 100% survival rate, so I will probably keep the majority to try and see them to at least their 3rd shed before I part with them, in the hope they will reach maturity if they made it that far. At a guess I could sell nymphs for between £5-£10 each.

Interestingly, if the two egg sacs hatch, the babies will be exact clones of the mother due to the nature of their conception. Fascinating stuff (to me anyway!).

[Issi]

That's brilliant. Really interesting stuff.

[vsonix]

I did go through a scorpion phase, although nothing too exotic. It started when I was in Southern France - in the old stone houses out there you often see small scorps (Euscorpicus Flavicaudii, fact fans) start to appear indoors a few hours before a big rainstorm. I found one on my wall and obviously I'd rather it was somewhere I could keep an eye on it instead of in my shoes so I captured it and made it a little terrarium. Then of course it needed feeding so I caught it some grasshoppers. Found I was fascinated by watching it hunt down and eat its prey. I started reading up and learning about all the different scorpion varieties (there was an American military chap called Scott Stockwell who built an amazing website, I'm not sure if it's still online) - I then discovered there was a second local scorpion variety, larger, more venomous and a blonde colour - parabuthus occitanus, which I have been attempting to find one of but they mostly stick to the scrublands of the Garrigue and don't seem to get in the way of humans much. Back in the UK I went for the ultimate in docile, impressive looking scorpions, Pandinus Imperator. But that was 10-15 years ago, I don't have time/space for that kind of thing at the moment.

[battered]

I had a few hundred threadworms living in my gut a while back. I didn't keep them for long.

I used to get praying mantises in the shower when I lived in France. Never saw them in the garden but they'd be wandering on the tiles regularly enough. I imagine they were after the water, like spiders in the UK.

[Resolutionary]

vsonix - that's awesome, I didn't know there were scorpions in France! Fascinating things, I have a friend who keeps Emperors and he says the same thing about their hunting and eating habits! Obligatory photo I took a few weeks ago:



Are they quite difficult or time-consuming to look after? I've often thought about getting one but stuck with mantids and other typical insects.

Doesn't look like the Scott Stockwell site is up anymore, but the internet is filled with invertebrate lovers and educators these days. Still, nothing beats going to a reputable shop or specialist zoo - even just to marvel at the creatures like a 5 year old!

[Resolutionary]

creationracing - mantids are awesome! They're like little Xenomorphs from the Alien films. My female is pretty docile until you put food in with her, then she's firmly in attack mode.

I have been told the ooth is unlikely to materialise, but I just can't bring myself to discard them! Maybe my positive thoughts coupled with relevant incubation methods will breed success!?

Monica doesn't seem keen on flying - I often have her out and about in my room and she seems to prefer to scramble about, even though she flaps her wings on the odd occasion. Love her to bits but..



I have new family members! Picked up these two unreal looking leaf insects (I believe they're Phyllium philippinicus) which have totally stolen my heart. One is a sub adult female and the other is a tiny nymph on his 3rd shed (I think). Unfortunately, the littl'un has damaged back legs, but on the flipside they have the ability to regrow them after they shed so he should be fine in a few weeks tops.

I've named the female Sativa and the male Indica, after another type of leaf

[Ambleton]

We have a giant African land snail - called Gary. Although technically like yours, they are all female. Apparently it is incredibly rare for snails to self fertilise, but it can happen. I hope not though as they can lay thousands of eggs at a time....

Here are some snaps. The first two were taken when we got him in June last year when he was about the size of a normal large garden snail (on the tips of my fingers) the others were taken a few weeks ago on my arm (I'm 6ft 5). He's grown a lot!









He's pretty disgusting, but quite interesting. Dead easy to look after, he has a cuttlefish for his shell growth, and he mainly eats cucumber and lettuce. Give him a spray daily and clean his tank out with new soil occasionally. Could do with getting a larger tank now though....

[ReaderScars]

I keep bacteria. Mainly so as to get around the 'no pets at work' rule, you know, because you can just sneak a little petri dish into one of your drawers. And they don't smell as bad as ferrets.

[Resolutionary]

I have new little friends!

Spitting spider female


Random unknown Madagascan mantis (seriously, cannot ID this fella anywhere)


More leaf insects (Phyllium phillippinicum)


A very charismatic male ghost mantis (Phyllocraina paradoxa)


A Cameroon stick mantis (not sure the scientific name - bizarre looking thing)


A (hopefully) breeding pair of orchid mantids - male:


And female:


And lastly this spectacular thing - a nympy Devils flower mantis (Idolomantis diabolica):


It had sustained some damage to one eye before I got it but it's shedding and feeding fine - you can see the extent of the issue:

[vsonix]

Resolutionary said:

vsonix - that's awesome, I didn't know there were scorpions in France! Fascinating things, I have a friend who keeps Emperors and he says the same thing about their hunting and eating habits! Obligatory photo I took a few weeks ago:



Are they quite difficult or time-consuming to look after? I've often thought about getting one but stuck with mantids and other typical insects.

Doesn't look like the Scott Stockwell site is up anymore, but the internet is filled with invertebrate lovers and educators these days. Still, nothing beats going to a reputable shop or specialist zoo - even just to marvel at the creatures like a 5 year old!

missed the reply but yeah there are plenty of scorps all over France. Did you know we have them in the UK as well? Apparently there are several established breeding colonies of the Euscorpicus Flavicaudis flavour aka European Yellow-tailed scorpion on the south coast and a large one on the Isle of Sheppey.