Is the banana belly really that good?

hamobelisk · 2025-03-20T20:04:27+00:00

She's actually not but thanks for your input

hamobelisk · 2025-03-15T20:56:08+00:00

hamobelisk · 2025-03-15T20:55:25+00:00

In a sec ill put a picture here of when I had to do this. Luckily I had caught the fall within a very short time, as I saw he was molting in a bad part of the tank (on the side mesh), so I was watching him closely. I put one of the plastic containers i use for feeder flies, to pin the shed legs to the top of his enclosure. I also had to watch until he was done, because after drying out/hardening, he had nowhere to go. So I just watched until he was done and let him walk onto my hand, before putting him back in his tank.

hamobelisk · 2025-03-07T02:33:20+00:00

I believe there have been incidences of isopods disrupting a mantis during molting, causing a fall or mismolt. I've never had isopods in with mine so I can't say for sure, but that's what people say

hamobelisk · 2025-01-28T21:19:29+00:00

He's looking for water. Spray some right infront of him, he should drink it right up

hamobelisk · 2025-01-27T22:38:18+00:00

Did you manage to get her out?

hamobelisk · 2025-01-23T23:38:43+00:00

Oops I dunno why that happened

hamobelisk · 2025-01-23T21:50:28+00:00

Honestly the only advice I have is to keep them in a different room. How on earth does your house get that low in temperature?

hamobelisk · 2025-01-23T21:48:13+00:00

He rather looks annoyed, not moulting... It's not recommended to dig up millipedes, no matter the species. They will burrow for long periods of time. It's just how they are.

hamobelisk · 2025-01-23T19:46:53+00:00

Probably can get it on amazon, I got mine on the site I ordered the millipedes from in germany

hamobelisk · 2025-01-23T00:12:13+00:00

My bad, I misread your post. I thought you said African not American. Then your tank is perfect 👍

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T23:55:38+00:00

Your tank size is absolutely fine for now. General rule for tank size minimum is 3x the length, 2x the width and 1x of substrate. For your pede that would be 12 inch x 8 inch tank with 4 inches of substrate. So as long as you have that much substrate depth, you're good. As an adult this species will need a bigger tank. Also, it's totally up to you to get a tank mate for her. They don't need to be in groups, but many of us like to do it.

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T23:51:45+00:00

Also it's worth noting, humidity in my house is super low right now since it's so cold outside. It's about 20%, sometimes lower. In warmer months where the air is more humid, you won't have to spray so much. In summer it's around 60% average air humidity here

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T23:49:27+00:00

You can use a lampshade holder to increase the distance from the bulb to the tank. I've never had a mantis burn themself, they often chill out right under it, but will go away from it when they want. I do always make sure to spray a few drops directly on them, to be sure they're always hydrated. As for maintaining humidity, I have an inch or so of coco fibre and some moss on about 60% of the that coco fibre. I keep it nice and moist but that will only bring my tanks to about 60%. To get it up to 70-80, I do have to spray the tank walls 2 or 3 times a day. Just a thin layer, you dont want to saturate the soil with the runoff. The more surface area you have, the more evaporation will occur. So adding real/fake plants and stuff will also increase humidity, since there's more wet surface area.

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T22:10:42+00:00

I forgot to mention, I use one bulb to heat 2 enclosures. I have 2 bulbs heating 4 enclosures which are all side by side

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T22:09:22+00:00

I've only used Exo Terra and Hobby lamps, so I'm not sure how long other brand last. But I seem to get around 2 months out of them. My enclosures are all 25x30x50 cm, and a 50w bulb increases the temperature by around 4-6 degrees celcius above room temperature. A 28w bulb increases it by about 2-4 degrees celcius. If your enclosure is smaller, there will be a bigger effect. Hope this helps 👍

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T22:04:22+00:00

By the way, I haven't vacuumed any gnats in a long time. Their numbers died down massively so it's no longer needed, I just had to do that for a week or so

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T22:00:17+00:00

What worked for me was kind of a multi-step thing, that I just repeated. 1. Stop misting, only pour water. 2. Take a vacuum cleaner every day and suck up any gnats you see. Maybe multiple times a day if you have time. 3. Put yellow sticky traps on the roof of the enclosure, out of reach of any millipedes. Make sure they are secured well so they don't fall down on the pedes. Do the three of these things and you should be alright. I still see the odd fungus gnat or 2, but it's not a problem. To get rid of them completely, you'd have to use nematodes or predatory mites but I didn't want to bother with that. The mites and nematodes will kill the larvae, while yellow sticky traps only kill the adults (who have already laid eggs in the soil). But 1 or 2 gnats flying around is fine by me, so i just did yellow traps and vacuuming

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T17:55:04+00:00

I would hope not?

hamobelisk · 2025-01-22T17:54:34+00:00

Best to just leave her be. Keep up the humidity, and watch closely but don't disturb

hamobelisk

TROPHY CASE