Hello and welcome to Invertecast. I am Leah from Torrentia as a voice. With me is Simon
from the Mantis Garden. Hello Simon. Hello Leah. How are you today? Don't ask. We were
having quite a morning. Just technical difficulty city I think. It's just terrible. I just had a
hatching in here and I came rushing over to have a look because I thought I'd spotted it across the
room and I kicked my camera and my camera stand over and broke the camera so that's why if we're
late that's why it's my fault. There you go. I know it. It's not like it's just one or two
little babies. It's like a whole bunch of them. I mean hundreds. Luckily it was a dead leaf.
There's a 50 though in there. Okay. Well cool. Still a scary amount. I've got another roof that's
just plating. It looks like it's going to hatch. So fingers crossed. Yeah of course. Okay so today
we are talking about these little guys. These are praying mantises as most people know them
but they are mantodae or at least that's like the general scientific family subclassification of them.
And so the word mantis is actually derived from a Greek word meaning a prophet. So one who is a
seer or a prophet somebody who's like in touch with the spiritual world and there are actually
quite a few cultures who believe that mantises have supernatural abilities and like properties
which is pretty fascinating. So this here is my juvenile shield mantis. You can kind of see why
they're called a shield mantis because they've got this part. Oops sorry. They've got this little
part right here that looks like a shield but there are how many shield species?
There's quite a lot but there's I think it was 32 Rompadera. So you know you've got I don't know
which one you've got there is it a rotunda or something? You know I'm not sure it was just
labeled as a shield mantis and I feel bad that I don't know like the exact... This is an adult female
curbia which is again a beautiful mantis but this is this is one of the reasons why we shouldn't use
common names because you know you go to pair them for instance yours and mine right because
they're completely different species but they're both under the name of shield mantis so it's always
best to learn the scientific name. Absolutely I agree with that because I don't even plan on pairing her
with anything just because like you said I don't know the exact scientific species and I'm not
you know I'm not trying to make hybrid hybrid creatures like no no good no good.
I'm not. We'll actually mate with each other so it is it is quite scary because that is a possibility.
As you know I keep mantis out like this one throughout all the time and I have two
different completely different species of Rompadera and I have caught them mid-coitus shall we say
to use a big bang theory term which is but luckily nothing came of it but it could have done you know.
Right.
Will you come out with me on my shoulder? Oh she wants to be on my face that's cool too.
So obviously these guys are they're pretty harmless to people.
I mean they can bite and it's you know not the most comfortable bite in the world but as you can see I've got
my little girl here on my face like she's just kind of chilling but yeah all right so let's talk about
what mantises are. So they are they are an insect as we know and they there are like 2400
like described and known species of mantises across the entire world.
So I mean they live virtually everywhere except for like Antarctica and very far north and the UK.
It's one of the few places on the planet it doesn't have mantis. Right.
It's very shocking but you know.
Bazzan says that his his female giant Asian chills on his face.
Yes just like mine here.
So yeah so the first record of mantises were on the fossil record about 35 million years ago.
I don't know where she's going and I'm just she's just okay anyway so 35 million years ago and they are
related to cockroaches and distantly crickets and grasshoppers. So that's kind of that's pretty
interesting. Let's see oh she's just chilling she likes it right there there we go. Somebody's
had it to jump up the top. Yeah oh look at that and as you know as people can see mantises are a
really fun arthropod or invertebrate pet because they are so interactive they're they're easy to
like take care of for the most part they're you know they're pretty chill like they'll come and hang
out with you you can handle them very easily and and they're just fun they're fun to watch they're
fun to to enjoy like as you can see she's she's doing that little dance that they do where they
kind of move side to side. It's not so much anymore but you know they're curious little creatures
they have their triangular face so that triangular face and those very large eyes and of course they're
called praying mantises because of the raptoral forelegs that kind of give them give give them the
the look of praying they look like they're praying so when they have their forelegs or these little
guys here when they have them up and close to their eyes they actually look like they are praying so
that's probably one of the reasons why they were given the mantis name as in like the prophet
because they're constantly praying I don't know. If you look at some of the if you look at some of
the other names for mantis in the languages or even in in Latin for certain mantis you'll see
the the connection if you look at like the current European mantis which you have over there as well
is mantis religiosa which is religious mantis
and the Portuguese name from is Lovados. Lovados means pray to god.
Oh wow. Yeah that's it sort of sticks out like so fun. I have actually seen people like praying
mantis I think pray Piawe Y and she's obviously incorrect but yeah that's the there's quite
there's quite a few of them out there if you look at the Latin names or if you look at the
local names of what they call praying mantis and they all seem to be connected with religion and
praying in some in some way shape I thought which is cool. Yeah absolutely I definitely agree with you
on that. So okay so these guys are they're medium to large insects so I think the smallest mantis is
about two maybe three inches like smaller yeah they do get smaller. Yeah I think that's my
I've got one here actually smaller than that and this is called an apicalis which is a flower
mantis. It's a very very tiny mantis she's about inch an quarter. Oh wow. So she's just really
that's an apple by the way. How cool. But they're as small as them are they're as small but yeah she's
uh right there. So yeah they're actually quite tiny ones. And there's some pretty large ones as well
like like this girl she'll probably get close to five to six inches like pretty pretty large size
and of course in the states we have a couple of species that are
they don't get massive but they do get about four and four and a half to five inches or so but
still that's a pretty pretty good size mantis for sure. There's a number for the Chinese mantis.
Oh right. Seven inches yeah just over seven inches for the Chinese mantis which is
uh pretty monstrous. There's absolutely no mantis that like nobody's managed to get yet
but that's supposed to go to nine inches. So wow. But I had to see that my own eyes you know. Right.
But that's a possible mantis. I also heard that there was a blue mantis uh what is it called a
hajula. Yes it's a newly described species it's a hajula species uh blue popow. I've been around
for quite a while. Yeah all it is basically is you know the giant Asian. Okay. That's it.
There's nothing really tremendously interesting about them that's so different. Sure. Just a
different color. These guys actually or she'll mantis these can actually be good as well which is
uh something that's pretty rare as far as I can tell so far that one that's been blue.
So hopefully this time the next babies of these I'll get some blue ones.
Yeah as you can see I've got a kitten in one hand and a mantis in the other. It's it's funny.
So all right um they are really cool though. I love mantises. I love their I love their front
forelegs here because they are highly adapted to catching prey and then bring it in close because
they will eat their prey live clearly. I mean we all most most invert keepers know that that's
what they do but if you look real close on those front forelegs you can actually see the little
spines on the underside there and those are like I said highly developed to be able to
capture that prey and hold on to it and eat it. Oh yeah that's that's pretty interesting.
Like a shark's teeth point back they point back as well so once they grab it there's no way out
for the prey. If you've been gripped by them the only way to get away is if it lets go of you. Otherwise
it's game over. Right. That's including fingers.
They hurt they hurt. The bigger ones really really hurt. Oh I believe it. Yeah I mean her feet right
now I mean they don't they're not painful but they are kind of itchy so I'm wondering if are there
are there spines on their little feet as well? No the little hair it's a little hoax in here so
it's the same as a tarantula. Oh okay. The trasp on the end so they can the sticky pads
like most insects have some kind of hook or an head that helps them to you know grab. Yeah
well that's that's amazing I didn't know that their feet were like tarantulas this kid.
And and Baz Hans says that cats are Simon's most favorite animal we all know that that's not true.
Hi. Only a thernoplanda. Yeah okay so these guys are also uh masters of disguise. Oh yeah.
So and that actually brings us into uh some of our some of the most interesting species that I
found of mantises. Um and this this is another one of those highly adapted uh like attributes of
a mantis is that they like I said are masters of disguise so they actually are evolved to look
like leaves sticks, flowers, thorns like all sorts of stuff because most mantises are ambush
predators. So what that means is they basically oh she's trying to bite me okay uh if they basically
they basically will hang out in plants and trees and wait for another insect or something to come
by and then they swoop in and get it and so that camouflage helps and allows them to do that
because you know if you look like a leaf another insect isn't going to suspect that you're
like a predator especially if you look like a leaf of the plant that you're on right.
There's pretty much the uh it got the double X sort there because they use that for
hiding to catch the prey and they also use it for hiding to avoid being preyed on.
So you get oh yeah you get both uh sights of I'm worried about that right I'd like to get one now
now but I'm just worried about that curvy I because they are so aggressive but uh this guy
this one's only a sub-adult but this guy if it will come out you might get all GP with it um
um this is this is called a macro-matist and they have this ability to flatten themselves
completely which he's probably not going to do now. Oh that sounds interesting though how cool
but generally they can they can absolutely flatten sort of and you cannot see them so it's winding
up. Oh wow. They're not going to wind up too much but yeah. I've noticed that uh Mavis here we named
her Mavis um she occasionally will flatten herself out as well but probably not to the extent that
it just doesn't flat I mean when I say flat it looks like it's been ironed. Wow. It actually looks like um
it's not going to do is it? Okay. It's that is is I think it's just exciting about being out for a
minute but give me a minute. I'm keeping up and when you do see it it will do it.
Where's my little brush? I've got a little brush somewhere. I don't know where it is but
and generally that would uh or orange cat vibes right now because Apollo is a menace.
A menace. No he's not going to bother but generally he will he will go super flat.
Like like a piece of paper you won't believe it. It's unbelievable.
Once he's on a plank and he does the flat thing we'll be on the underside of the leaf. Wow.
You'd never know he was there. You can look through the plank 20 times and can't find him
and he's been staring at you all the time. That's cool. I get that quite a lot with the ones that
are out you know the heights of where I just I have no idea where they are and they've been
looking at me all the time because they just stay still so still and they're blended in with
whatever they're on. Right. Dead leaves are fantastic for that. I should have got the dead
leaf down. I've got one of them. I'm pretty careful. She's getting on a bit but he's he's he doesn't seem
to want to be a friend too but I say doesn't perform on demand this guy evidently. He must not feel
very threatened with you. How cute. Maybe. This one looks on an ornament on my uh I've got my yes
though can't they. Laura says um forget the bugs. I want the kitty. She doesn't want to leave there.
I don't want to go away.
Good girl. That's right. When you when you get older I get frightened of the pats on the feet
as once I lose this picky on the feet it's uh it's game over pretty much for
her. Let's just see if you can imagine that on the the forest floor with a lot of leaves if you
can see that. I don't know if you can see that. Can you see that though? Yeah yeah raise them up.
There you go. Yeah we could see that. That's cool. That's really cool. Yeah they look like I mean
they look like leaf litter. You know on the forest floor they just look like you know
you're the amazing. The other brilliant trick they have is is approached by anything that they're
afraid of which is very little um like a bird or something. They will play dead. They will just
literally stiffen up, flatten out and drop to the floor and that's it you know and then it
will stay there for a long time just not moving and that would be probably why they call it in
deathly because that's exactly what it is. So is there is there a term is there a scientific term
for the um I call it a little dance that they do or the the movement that they make while they're
like sitting usually they sit kind of still but every now and then they'll kind of do this little
rocking kind of back and forth motion where it it looks like they're part of the plant part of the
tree maybe like kind of just blowing in the breeze. That's well that's the idea I mean sticking
sex to it as well they just rock from side to side to make it look like they're blowing in the breeze.
If there is a term which I'm sure there is because you're not scientists are like they've
set up a poignant wiggling from side to side they'll come up with some crazy word for it
but I don't know I don't know what it is because I always just call it a dance.
If you're generally speaking to your average person and you start using scientific words
okay worry about that. What was that Kat? Yes my my kid in Apollo he is fascinated with my ear
buds right now. I can't actually see the screen so I can't feel what's going on. Yeah right.
Yeah okay so they have the large eyes and they're triangular shaped heads but another fascinating
thing about their heads and their and their body essentially is that they can move their heads at
like 180 degrees all the way around which is pretty cool because I don't think we can do that.
I think we can get pretty close to 180 we get like 160 ish. I feel like I'm not safe. Right I mean if
you it's about pretty good flexibility then maybe but you know your neck isn't like messed up like
mine and Simon's right but oh goodness Apollo anyhow. Yeah but these guys they can move their head
in a 180 degree turn which of course helps them to be able to see and be able to like
observe their surroundings and also capture that prey or those other smaller insects that they eat
right because they have such really great eyesight as well they have very highly developed eyesight
I think that's true for all mantises. It is it is uh mantis and jumpin spiders are like the only real
books I'm gonna call them books because uh they're not both insects so I just call them books after
but that have such good eyesight and also both of those are tested in the lab quite frequently
to to learn about their eyesight and recently there was an experiment done with mantis to find
out if they have get perception like we do and they don't it's it's better than I was so and
the way they did this was by gluing uh red and green shades of the mantis which I think is a
bit cruel but you know what scientists are like um it's the name in the name science yeah and
testing the depth perception of the actual mantis and it works out it's better than humans so
you know it's amazing if it was bigger they would be our overlords basically yeah right
I said they wouldn't mess with them if it was as big as a dog I would go down where they were
because they they would mess you up they would yeah I mean there are so many like science fiction
movies where the monsters are based off of mantises essentially like um I believe one would be
super uh no not super troopers but uh what's that called the space something troopers I forget what
it's called I'm so sorry but it's a great movie but like you know it's sci-fi and you know humans are
on I think they're on earth and these aliens come down and they have to fight them starship troopers
thank you Baz thank you so much I had to ask what's the win but yeah um so starship troopers they come
down and the alien creatures look a lot like mantises which is pretty fascinating yeah there's a
reason for that um they're actually based on this one well what do you know they're actually based on
the desiccata I'm not on the dead mantis that's that the head and except for his base on it and the
shield on the back so you know that's that's why they look a bit like mantis an act like mantis
that's cool and Laura wanted to know the name of my kitten his name is apollo like like the
greek ancient greek sun god apollo um well I don't know he wasn't really a sun god he was
he was the god that would bring in the sun in the morning and then bring it back down at night
so he was a charge of sunrises and sunsets um which uh I might be mistaken on that because I'm not
an expert on greek mythology but either way apollo was a perfect name for him because he's cute and he
explores and he's kind of orange all right getting back on to topic right so speaking of mythology
and folklore I did happen to find a really cool story um out of Africa actually about mantises
and so what it is basically the story goes that uh people and mantises were eating their food raw
so as they caught their food they would eat it raw and they would sleep in shelters and at night
and all these things right but mantis saw that the ostrich was eating food that smelled different
and it smelled delicious so the mantis was curious like what kind of food what is happening right
so the mantis uh got closer to ostrich and observed ostrich for a while to find out what was going on
and what the mantis found out was that ostrich was eating like seeds and nuts but instead of eating
them raw ostrich would take a little bit of fire from underneath his wing and put the put the food
in the fire and then eat it that way after you know after he burned it so basically he was cooking his
food um so when he was finished he would put the fire back underneath his wing and so mantis
saw this and said he so he decided to devise a plan uh to basically capture some of this fire
so the mantis told ostrich come I know a tree that's covered with beautiful orange delicious
plums so he basically tricked the ostrich to this tree and you know the ostrich started
eating the plums and the ostrich was was overjoyed because they were delicious absolutely
but the mantis said well the best ones are actually at the top of the tree so you you need to reach
up and and reach higher and so as the ostrich was doing just that the mantis snatched some of the fire
from underneath ostrich's arms and that's when so that's when um mantis actually gave the fire to
to humans so mantis was observant kind of a trickster and he took a little bit of ostrich's fire
and gave it to the people right so ostrich after this was so ashamed that he lost some of his
fire that he never lifted his wings ever again and that's also why the ostrich doesn't fly so
really interesting folklore um I did also find a poem an ancient chinese poem about mantis I
I decided not to recite it today just because it's it was kind of long but it was essentially like
what you said that mantises are seen as lucky and in latin and greek mantis basically means profit or
seer so somebody who's you know wise and thoughtful they're observant and maybe even in touch with
you know the supernatural world or the spirit world or things like that right and so they
they considered for mantises to have supernatural powers um and this was actually true for ancient
greece ancient egypt and assyria so quite a few uh very ancient or old cultures believed that mantises
are unique and wise and and supernatural in that way did do you know any other
of folklore or another sausage I never I never actually bothered to to check folklore I knew
they were lucky in china uh I knew that the the ancient egyptians used to mummify them
which I thought was amazing that is interesting apart from that I I I suppose probably the main
reason is because we don't have them here okay I know lots of folklore about headjokes about
foxes and things like that stuff we have but nothing about mantis and I I I I always too bothered
trying to learn more about the actual mantis than the folklore around it right yeah I I
I that was that was a new story to me um but I can see it because I I heard a very very similar story
for headjokes okay and that was from uh africa so they have a better imagination than we do for
it that way yeah clearly I mean they never have gone there they didn't have tv and books and stuff
to distract their brains and minds from you know exploring that that side of their imagination so
I imagine too that a lot of folklore and and like legends and myths and stuff they they come from
that kind of ancient wisdom like in in the stories and stuff there's always like a lesson
so it's pretty fascinating I I love when inverts and you know arthropods and stuff are are the
topics of mythology because you know you've learned things that you you wouldn't otherwise
think were were important you know so yeah I I also believe that here in the states a lot of
people see mantises as lucky so I maybe that's you know something that kind of transferred to the
states from from China or you know from from the asian the asian continent there the folklore there
but another creature that you know it can also be seen as kind of lucky here in the states would
be Katie did a lot of people say that you know if you get a Katie did or a mantis that lands on you
that it's a prosperous it's a sign of prosperity it's a sign of you know good fortune essentially
so it's very fascinating I think it's really cool that uh so many different cultures view
mantises in that way I think I would I think I definitely would I mean a lot of these guys
I there's so many so many variations and there's so many variations of them in this room
let alone within the genus just in this room I I've got so many different looking mantises um
it always always amazes me the differences I was I was going to ask you how many different
species of mantis do you have I have no idea I have no idea but I've got quite a few singles as well
you see that um that's sent to me so I've got random ones that I never mentioned okay those ones
just become pets more than anything like I've got glass mantis here which is pretty much a pet
it's the only one I've got so it's a random but again a completely weird
sort of creature if you look to it uh actually it's too small they are tiny they're really
are tiny wow if you look to it it takes quite a while to figure out that it was an actual mantis
so you know it's it's not that well like the big three ones I call them mantis classic
which is okay is the one you always like the one I have yeah when you think about praying mantis
it's big it's green it's sitting there like you know that's a mantis classic but I mean there's so
many of them and they all look different act different live in different places yeah you know
well it's amazing like you've got mantis but like ants you've got yeah not particularly mantis
mantis flies it's another thing which is really closely related so you might as well call them
mantis uh like you've got the the wasp mantis which is just looks like a wasp it's amazing
that is amazing and you you've got like well cryptic mantis in here and you get your tiny little
flower mantis and you've got big like I called shield mantis because they're all big so let's
keep them all then you put your action mantis which is a this folder mantis there's so many of them I
think there's 27 different species of those well through our maker and you know still to be found
because this place is like in the Congo where there's been trouble for that long that nobody
wants to go there and research anything so there's plenty of places in Africa and in South America
where nobody goes simply because it's a terrifying place to be and not because of the animals but
because of the people because of the people yeah absolutely America you can go say okay I've
gone in South America I'm gonna go through the anus and I'm gonna go and look for a new species or two
so next thing you know you're old enough for the new being kidnapped so people people don't want to
you know they don't want to risk it no it's it's it's a scary thought it's a scary thought so
it's a lot of stuff out there we don't get to see yet right but the other problem of putting
the actual forest down I mean we just you know these the guys who've cut in forest down
acres and acres of forest per day they're not actually checking what's living in that forest
before they cut it down they're just going in and cutting it down that's it it's gone
and there's some species along with these small areas or on certain trees
and much cut down you've just lost that species right I mean that could be that could be like the cure
for cancer and and it's gone like we're killing ourselves I mean this is it's it's ridiculous but
yeah that's just human nature isn't it it's uh it's what makes the most money
now yeah the worst is what's better for us in the future we're more interested in what's cool now
than then and and it's it's killing off uh what's things there was a mantis found this week uh which
was another species of dragon mantis really I can remember the latin name for this so
well I know um the dragon mantis from Brazil is called the stenophylla conegera
that's it but we found it along oh this week we found it was another species so same genus but
a different species okay so it's a stenophylla yeah that was found in Brazil and that was in
in there's a there's a massive section of uh Brazilian amazon that she's protected and that is okay
to go in like scientists can go in there and have a meet around and see what they can find
right it's 2024 so okay so how many how many dragon mantis species are there because I don't know this
and I know that um no I actually yeah right I mean well and I was going to highlight the dragon
mantis because it is so unique it's very interesting looking like um obviously we call it a dragon
mantis because it kind of looks like a dragon uh but it's it's not green or you know I'm sure
there's probably a variation that is green but it's not like classical um it doesn't have like
the the it has three segments but it's not the same shapes like these guys they're more
these aftermany is a bit wonky right it almost looks like they have scales
like you would think a reptile or or a dragon would right yeah they're really pretty
I don't like them I think they're ugly I think they're really cool they're so unique
they are unique yeah they are very unique I mean I put an antistat look at yeah yeah right
that's as far as it goes for me as as the ants look at I go oh yeah that's unique but
uh if I was gonna have one I'd pay that I wouldn't pick I wouldn't pick a dragon mantis
no now I'm a classic green and mean guy I like big green mean that's it that's that's my my my thing
yeah the classic mantis right yeah that's that's cool the one I thought I was with and that's the
one I was fixing the cryptic mantis is also is probably my favorite mantis out of all of them
uh out of all those species this little guy is probably my favorite which is that's an
adult an adult female so they're not massive raise her up just a little there we go okay
oh she's beautiful that is probably my my favorite mantis um don't ask me why I have no idea
I get I've got loads of these uh I'm just reading them at the moment um nice always always get
attached to them but the the ones that I'm actually using to breathe with I always get
attached to the cryptic mantis and the others always get the name whereas you know most of the others
just stock you know but those I always get a name and I just I don't know if there's something
about them that blocks my boat really well Liliana says that she thinks the ugly ones become cute
looking and I agree I think some of the ones that people think are kind of ugly are actually the
most pretty and kind of cute ones like and that makes sense because Liliana and I are also the
tarantula lovers yeah so of course we think the you know
yeah
you know but I have some dudes I mean really warm in it um
I forgot what I was going to say now oh yeah that was it the ugly ones our confants is the other one
I I don't find them very appealing but the ones people do but the nymphs when they hatch
I find them fascinating the little black things with red eggs and they're just absolutely amazing
little nymphs to look at but the the orchid mantis yeah okay but you know they don't really uh
the adults don't really do anything for me really I think like you're at the car with the wall
there are much more attractive mantis you're the flower mantis I absolutely love the pseudo
creobatra uh botra uh wallenberg I love that spiny flower yep spiny flower I think they are
really really cool like they are just they're so pretty because they do look like a spiny flower
like they have all these spikes they almost look like sonic the hedgehog right yeah just not blue
and to top it all off they've got an emoji on the wings so yeah they've got a little smiley face
or a number nine right like there's two of them that there's a lot actually there's quite a lot of
the flower mantis but uh yeah those those ones they've all got some kind of design on the wings
but different smiley faces I think this one's too small I haven't got a larger flower mantis
I love that you called it an emoji yeah it's I think I no I haven't I thought I had I haven't
they've got uh but yeah the the actually it's too small to show you I mean yeah because my camera's
knackered sure but the the other ones you can really see the the smiley face on there or
with the lack of the eyes but it's true yeah smiley face you've got like there's loads of them
I mean there's quite a few in India uh I think there's about eight and nine different ones
throughout uh India and going up through Asia and that so there's there's quite a few to look at or
look for I believe it and I I mean some of the prettiest inwards come from India I think yeah
like so like some of the prettiest tarantulas come coming out of Sri Lanka and and India and
the post-lithera genus of tarantulas you know I mean they're they're gorgeous
no they're they're the blue ones they have kind of striped lakes and each one usually has
some kind of yellow marking on their tibials and and their femur femurs yeah so they're
they're really pretty um yeah yeah so it's vast the country's just absolutely massive and it goes
there's desert there's you know there's jungle there's rainforest there's there's mountains and snow
she's trying to bite me sorry she's trying to eat me is he a bantist yeah oh good that's all right
don't do that I thought I thought it was a cat for a minute uh don't leave that uh now you've
got this you've got these vast different environments uh and climates to go up and it creates
all these different species yeah there we go she's not eating me anymore thankfully sorry I didn't
mean to interrupt you I just it was really funny I get really excited when people talk about the
different mantis I end up forgetting about yeah no there I mean the the orcine mantis is
for whatever I mean probably because they are really pretty and they kind of have that pink
coloration um you know they've become really popular in recent years I mean here at the Denver
Museum of Nature and Science they did uh they did a an exhibition called bugs and of course their
their highlighted bug was the orchid mantis I mean they were just they they really hyped up this
orchid mantis you know um which I mean I'm not surprised because it is really quite beautiful
but I was like yeah but that's I mean that's just one of hundreds of really cool mantises that you
could have focused on and you know I I don't know I think it was just you know they're trying to
trying to catch on with the kiddos or something like that you know big colorful beautiful thing um
but I I really feel like there was kind of a missed opportunity but don't tell them I said that okay
it's honestly every go it's how that the orchid or the ghost mantis yeah and that's
that's very only two that they bang all about I mean even Dave Dattenborough when he did the
about mantis he did the orchid mantis right please stop doing the orchid mantis that's so dull
right to really add yeah it looks pretty does it move never you know no yeah no and they are
they are pretty they're pretty difficult to take care of too because they do require like
quite a bit of humidity and you know warm oh he's such a perp I'm sorry he's purring it is the
it has been a problem with uh especially the main bees they're going out uh the first thing
they do they'll say because I get this a lot they'll message me and they go do you have any
orchid mantis that I've met have you had a mantis before and nine times that ten the answer is no
and I'm sorry well I suggest you don't start with an orchid mantis right no certainly not
this then I won't sell them and they'll go somewhere else buy an orchid mantis it dies
within days you know it's just it's just so irritating a lot of sellers will
no not sell to uh brand new never brand new keepers yeah so yeah or get risky if he said oh yeah I
keep spiders and I keep you know all their inverts yeah sure you've got this you've got this mentality
you're thinking about if you guys keeping these other things then it should be easy to keep this
and that looks that you know they're willing to put the bee searching right and so it just wants
a novel pet right I I don't want to sell to somebody wants a novel pet if I'm gonna sell
someone I want someone who's gonna you know well let it go I like that I want to know they're gonna
look after it right it's it's it's not going to be there for three weeks of course yeah it's
it's not good for anybody you see that no yeah no I mean I totally agree with you you know do that
do diligence like if you see a mantis that you're interested in you know do the research find out
where it comes from find out what kind of climate it you know is adapted to and yeah ask ask people
who are experienced ask you know someone like me someone like Simon because we will probably be able
to give you insights into like keeping them and and making sure that they stay healthy and good
I mean mantises are amazing creatures absolutely but they do have shorter lifespans than other
inverts oh he's at it again but in any case you know they have shorter lifespans so that could be
that could be a no go for some people so you just never know but I I agree with you I think
or can mantises are really cool but I think the spiny flower mantises are where it's at
honestly if you were a really amazing mantis one that's that's absolutely stunning and beautiful
and you know going to impress your friends or whatever then the spiny flower mantis the way to go
yeah if you ever look at my stops I think not so long ago I had one on my finger spiny flower
and it was just flapping its wings like it was flying and it was doing it for ages and ages a
good 30 seconds just flapping its wings for no reason not very thin not going anywhere just flapping
its wings it looks really cool but it was where it you know it's flapping and it's uh yeah
I love it so cool cool mantis there's a success breeding them exactly I I got to pair them
uh I keep saying last month and it's not it's now 2024 two right I I paired two of them
and both females died before they manoeuvres oh no so I was really upset because that's
yeah a lot of time a lot of attempts trying to get these guys together uh I'm gonna finally did
it a week later and both females were dead I don't know why so you know that's a big drag I'm sorry
to do that tiny nymphs so no it's nothing I did because I got a little way to add all time
got them to pair and uh they're done so just I just really annoyed me I'm excited that's
it I'm not doing them this year not doing uh spiny flowers oh really yeah I do I'm sorry
you hear that yeah I pick out this so I I think that just as uh just as keep like very very similar
is so you took the spiny and you shrunk it down and that's that's what it looked like to me there's
there's not much difference how cool is that that's on the sides so I was going to ask you
about that species as well as the the cat faced mantis or the cat cat yeah it's the cat's eye
mantis those guys are really cool they're yeah I I haven't got one now I did have one and I
haven't got any at the moment they always appear angry 24 hours a day they appear angry they've
always got their arms out like this I can't do it how they do it because it hurts and
but yeah they've always got their arms out and looking angry and in the past mood and they'll
just dangle from the right in angry bones constantly they just they're so much fun to look at but they
they go to six inches they're quite a really big mantis that oh that's cool I didn't know they got
that big African stick mantis I think you see the common name okay I'm not sure about that anyway
but yeah bit mantis a lot of fun to have they're quite easy to keep and they're very easy to breed
so I don't know why there isn't more of them around yeah that's interesting
probably because they're not they're not pretty colors like you know what I mean like
that's what I always think yeah they don't have to be pretty cool because they're they're all
hot it's like ghost mantis they're pretty colored but they are all looking right people like all
looking mantis well that's why I like them because they're so odd they're cool I do like them and if
I see any on sale for bulk I will get a bunch of them and probably breed them this year oh I would
love that I hope you do it's a case of somebody popping up and saying yeah I just had a massive
hatching uh anyone want to buy a bunch of these and you know if nobody does that then you don't
get the mantis right because we have some species where they left the hobby completely
um simply nobody's breath of not yeah and they've they've gone you know yeah it's a case of
is anybody gonna breed them if they all go out the singles then you know well and I think that's
something that um you guys over in the UK and Europe I think you guys do that a lot a little bit
better a little bit better than we do um but yeah I yeah it's a lot probably maybe a little easier
but I think it's just you know you you guys you want to keep them in the hobby so you're gonna
just keep keeping them keeping them going and I think that's that's really commendable and I
appreciate that very much yeah if you see a species that's going out oh it's getting
rare yeah get two or three freezers you know knocking them out next time and they'll come back again
well that's good I'm glad to hear that okay so uh we're coming up to the the last few minutes of
the podcast here and uh so we're almost done but I had one last question for you did I miss anything
uh well I we couldn't spoke to the rest of the night that is that is a serious question because
there's so many things to talk about with them and so many different species and so many different
things you can say do oh yeah give advice on keeping several because there are all different
so you can give advice how to breathe them how to pair them so yeah it's it it's something you
could go on and on and on about so you're better off stopping it otherwise I'll just keep running on
this I like the subjects I really really like this subject so yeah I'll just keep going on and on
and on it well I have a I have a feeling we'll be touching the subject again we'll come back and
we'll probably get a little more in depth with like you know specific species and breeding and
and that kind of thing so we'll get into it no worries future future episodes I'll get some
I'll get some uh I get some people to send me some questions but yeah episodes because I get some
really dumb questions asked me if you know I'd like to start writing them down uh you should
we can answer them sometimes I get the same question four or five times a day and it's
so dumb it's unbelievable yeah I should really write it down instead of just repeating myself I
should just write down yeah all right well I guess it's time for our shameless plug Simon uh do you
have anything coming up any news welcome back happy new year well yeah happy new year um
dead leaves I actually wrote a script for dead leaves not one specific one
yeah script that covers all dead leaves uh which I'm hoping to do this week I was waiting for them
to hatch because I wanted footage and I missed them hatching oh no actually I'm just gonna do the
video anyway so I'm gonna make the video probably this week for dead leaves uh and enlighten a little
more hopefully uh and give reasons why you shouldn't call dead leaves okay cool I I like that so I'll
be I'll be watching for that video it sounds wonderful um I let's see to actually I just released
uh the video yesterday about the little coddle Callenbergie um because I rehoused my little
juvie I have a little juvie that I just rehoused um and then I of course made the video and stuff
so I talk all about that tarantula and basically I you know kind of like what I do here um and then
this upcoming week I have like so many tarantulas to rehouse and I finally have all the materials
that I need to do it so be looking out for some more species spotlights um and I also
instead of doing the love bites that I usually do for like ballatines I'm actually going to be talking
about mature males in the tarantula hobby so uh the guys that are looking for dates and sometimes
they just don't find them and so I'm going to talk about why that happens and what we can do about it
so look out for that otherwise I watched that earlier I watched I watched your Callenbergie earlier
oh did you like it I did I did actually like it yeah it was it was quite a good video yeah yeah
thanks so much I appreciate that I don't I don't approve the Little Orange Baby
yeah the little orange that's just go subscribe to the channel and go have a look because
I I I did share it on Facebook and say to people so you know if you're into spiders go and see Lea
yeah because you've been doing it for a long time and I have yeah so some some press I think
thank you I appreciate that so much and I I absolutely love your videos Simon I feel like I've
learned so much more about mantises and and all sorts of insects with you with your channel so
obviously go check out the Mantis Garden uh check out Tarantula and of course like and subscribe to
Invertecast go and find us on Spotify, Amazon Music wherever you can find your podcast is pretty
much where we're at um and yeah that's about all I got so thank you thank you so much for
watching thank you Simon so much for being here I am so excited to start this year uh fresh and
and like strong we're starting strong yeah subject me no yes absolutely no
no stop you're gonna you're gonna spy like on you for next week's video are you gonna what you're probably doing
uh I want to do Katie this so if we could find
oh
go
I thought right like critics grasshoppers case did yes exactly so yeah we're gonna do that uh whole
classification so yeah crickets grasshoppers Katie did um all of those little guys because they used
to they actually used to classify mantids in with that that family uh but they they since
changed it because clearly mantises are not the same as crickets grasshoppers no not at all not at
all they're totally different creatures so what she's trying to eat the lid she's actually biting
the lid I love it she's she's trying to get the farm mantis inside I didn't see a flying over
she's chewing the lid come on girl which is oh that's funny we'll all right you guys
we will see you we will see everybody uh next week and we'll be talking about grasshoppers
crickets and Katie did thanks so much see you later