Does anyone have an unusual pet? Meet "Pancake" (probably don't click if you don't like insects - she's a praying mantis)

[lucysmam]

Meet Pancake, dd2's praying mantis.

She's smaller than my thumbnail at the moment, & very very fast. She likes to scare the shit out of me by jumping onto my hand when I least expect it 🤣

I was just checking on her temp/humidity & wondered what unusual pets you lot have?

Well you're braver than me 😬
The most exotic pets I've had are stick insects 😂

That's my hand she's sitting on to eat her fly 🙄 She doesn't sit still long enough to actually pass one to her (using tweezers).

We did suggest stick insects to dd when she first expressed an interest in mantis keeping, 2 years ago nearly, but she was set on praying mantis.

Wow. Wasn't expecting her to be so small.

Oh she is gorgeous! I adore praying mantids and was lucky to once live somewhere they’re wild. This one is so tiny! What is her setup like?

I had stick insects and an African land snail.

Ooh she's cute!

Ahh, sweet.

Will she stay that pale or will she change colour as she grows? (I know nothing about praying mantises, sorry!)

I inherited a tarantula once (a housemate did a moonlight flit and left the poor thing behind). Fascinating thing. I called it Ziggy

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! LOOK AT HER ON HER TOADSTOOL!

Thankyou for this. Its cheered me up no end.

She's lovely. My dds would love one.

They really want a giant leaf stick insect too.

But we already have two dogs, two Guinea pigs, two aftrican land snails, and ants. I've said nothing else!

@PlatinumBrunette at the mo, it's quite bare. We're not 100% sure how long since her last moult so keeping it mainly clutter free so there's limited chance of her hanging too low when she does moult. She should go to the top. I've attached a pic of how dd first set it uo (there's a hygrometer/thermometer atm too but that doesn't stay in for now as it's rather large for such a small space)

@NightmareSlashDelightful, dd's last mantis, Errol, changed with each moult so I think it's just wait and see.

I'm not sure I'd manage a tarantula - I've seen some videos where they seem quite vicious if someone puts an unwanted hand in an enclosure.

@MissShapesMissStakes where do you get ants?? Can we see their set up?

Ahh, thank you! I could find space for that. —must not, must not—

She will eventually need bigger than that - probably next moult. Any larger might mean they struggle to find dinner if you put it in for them to hunt, when they're really tiny. I'll see if I still have a photo of Errol's little house on my phone.

Corn snake here. Have had a 7 foot red iguana in the past but it bit me. Wasn't a nice experience.. Also had bearded dragons and a few other snakes of different types.
Here is ours.
Ds was sure a tractor would be a welcome addition to the set up..

Beautiful! I've kept all sorts over the years from Emperor Scorpions and Deathshead Cockroaches to African Banded Mongoose, Egyptian Fruit Bats, a Springhaas, a Coati and a tame fox, plus many snakes, lizards and amphibians, but no longer do so for ethical reasons, although I don't have an issue with captive bred insects or arachnids

I've currently got giant prickly and giant budwing stick insects. Happy to post eggs if anyone is interested,

@lucysmam if they are a native species (like we have) people often catch the mated queens on 'flying ant day'. Many don't survive anyway - that's why there are so many of them!

Dd got hers from another enthusiast who sent us some for free when her first queen didn't make it.

Set up is quite simple at first as they just need/prefer small spaces for the queen to start laying. Most people keep them in a test tube with a water/cotton wool reservoir until they have a big enough colony to want to explore.

Dd has hers in this setup. The queen is i. A test tube buried underneath. She had them in sand until recently but now this coir. They don't escape because they all stay with the queen and once the queen is settled in her nest she doesn't move anywhere else anyway. The amount of times dd has forgotten to replace the lid after feeding .

I own a white faced scops owl

Are Scops the ones that make the funny booping noise?

@exocticpets can we see a picture?

@MissShapesMissStakes how interesting. They might make a good project for school -I'll do some research!

@Redhound I'd love to take you up on your offer but, after a quick google, I think they might have dd1 running for the hills 🤣🤣

Lucy lol the pricklys look fearsome but they are harmless!

There's an owl owner in another thread at the moment. Or so they claim...

Hi @lucysmam I knew this was you from the title.

We have turtles, which might not be that unusual but I don't know any one else who has them.

Pancake is beautiful. If she's quick and jumps, are you not scared of her getting lost? She's so tiny I think I'd be scared of damaging her in some way. Cute though.

'Errol'!

Meet Luna the African land snail