Ally's Eight-Legged Journey

I was recently asked to share pictures of my mantises rather than my spiders for a change (apparently my friends aren't as fond of the wee little beasties as I am, go figure!) I am always happy to oblige with pictures of my critters, regardless of what they are, so here are pictures of Sykes, Catchy, and Tyson. Unfortunately I lost Evander, my second flower mantis, recently. He went through a period of refusing to eat. No matter how many fruit flies I dropped into his enclosure, he just wasn't interested, and he passed right before I left for Amsterdam. I am obviously very disappointed, but this is nature and I tried my best. This is why mantises have so many babies - some of them just don't survive, it's called "failure to thrive". Sykes is my dead leaf mantis, Deroplatys desiccata . He's had two or three molts since I got him, but his rate of growth is so slow that I barely notice the difference at the moment. He's not much bigger than when I...

So this is the last livestock purchase that I will be making for a while. I know I have said that before, but I have now reached my physical limit of what I can house and care for. In my room, I currently have: - 11 tarantula enclosures - four arboreal tubes, four sling boxes, and three 1.3 litre braplast tubs. As well as these I have: - two jumping spiders in medium acrylic arboreal tanks, - one mantis in a medium arboreal tank, - one mantis in a small deli cup, - one scorpion in a large faunarium, - a mealworm farm in an XL faunarium, - dubia roaches in a medium faunarium, and - one Sunny stick insect in a medium mesh terrarium. I also keep greenbottles, brown crickets, and fruit flies in their respective containers. My order today adds two Spotted fire millipedes ( Centrolobus splendidus ), a giant dead leaf mantis ( Deroplatys desiccata ), and a second mystery box! Centrolobus splendidus Yeah, I have no reason for ordering these other than I wanted them. I used to keep...

So after saying that I wouldn't order any more insects, I have ordered more insects. This time, I have ordered a giant dead leaf mantis Deroplatys desiccata , two Mozambique fire millipedes Centrobolus splendidus , and..... another mystery box. As if I didn't learn the first time. This time, I have specifically requested no scorpions (along with no old world T's, and no bitey/stingy things) and explained that I do not have an enclosure large enough for such things. I don't even know why I'm buying them any more. I love them, and they fascinate me - like little tiny mech suits - but I am running out of space. This absolutely has to be my last purchase. And I'm asking people to help hold me to that! When I move house and have a larger space, then I can rethink things. For now though, I must start being a responsible adult (very boring!) Deroplatys desiccata Centrobolus splendidus