The strange coming of Phil...

[sdm]

On thursday, I ordered my first mantis (I called him "phil"). He was to come by USPS overnight and come on friday... well strangely enough, on the "big day" I found out that the 'overnight' delivery that I believed was essential,(as the shipment details said it had been sent so that it would be 28 hours since it was first shipped when the postoffice mailman-who is a lazy a**hole because 50% of our mail is other peoples mail, which puts mom in a bad mood so I have to be real careful what I say and do- makes his rounds) was actually two day Express. I hoped that the mantis would be delivered as early as possible. The next day I checked the mail, finding a notice on re-delivery, saying they had attempted to deliver at 6am, which is a flat out lie. So, luckily, when me and dad went to the post-office someone was there and we convinced them to let us have it, by saying: "you know, it's an animal, and it's gonna smell pretty bad on monday...". Well, I opened the container and wattaya know, phil started doin laps! After 50+ hours, he's perfectly fine. One strange way of gettin a mantis I'll tellya...one tough mantis too...

 

[H2OLUVSME]

what kind, and where did you get him??

LT

 

[sdm]

Oh, Phil's an N. wennerae hitchhiker from someone who didn't want him. Just thought it was odd, so I posted about it.

 

[sdm]

Okay, phil is the wierdo of mantises. Rather than being a skittish, recluse little critter, he has made up his mind to make it so a fish tankmate wouldn't add a thing to the display-he does all the swimming as it is! (I think he saw the comp screen and didn't like the look of the threads I was looking at-mantis tankmates...)

 

[sdm]

Update from Phil's world-here are some pics;
Closeup #1:

Closeup #2:

Clearest pic of his "Supermantis impressions":

Is it that time of already?

As long as noone minds, I'll keep postin pics.

 

[sdm]

Is that a buffet I smell?

 

[sdm]

Phil has started his first door! yay! I'll post pics soon.

 

[ReneX]

If we MIND? This is the mantis board, we LOVE pictures!

Oh, and if you can get a better shot of his legs it might help, but it looks like Phil might be a girl.

 

[sdm]

Goody! I can poswt pics! But my cams power suppl's gone missin, and it's gone dead... I'll post pics again as soon as I can.

 

[sdm]

Ok, I just found the power supply, but the camera needs to charge....I wish it didn't, cause this is freaking hilarious! Phil has learned of the great feeding straw/eye-dropper, but has decided that when he's full, he starts snapping at it until I take it out of the water! I kid you not, he follows it...

 

[sdm]

Okay, here are some more pics!
"The beginning of the door."-Also known as "WHY THE HECK DOESN"T THIS DOOR FIT?!?!?!" :lol:

"The almost-finished door."

And, the swimmerets. (HTH in phils 'identification' ReneX)

Phil is not yet doing his "supermantis impressions" at times when I can get a clear picture...

 

[nzdiver]

Great photos!

I'm glad he made it there fine... I wouldn't be suprised if he was
aggressive. He was sharing my tank with another mantis that
chased him around. I'm still trying to get the other guy out of
the tank. I'm glad he's in a tank where he's appreciated. Hope
he does well.

Good luck

 

[sdm]

Thanks. Yeah, he' doing fine.

 

[RayLovesNemos]

wow phil rocks

 

[sdm]

Phil says thank you very much!

 

[dc]

Oh he's georgous! Glad he survived the trip. You never know about these guys they seem pretty hardy. My mail lady will bring stuff up to my door and even put it inside for me. My little guy wasn't really bashful either I'll have to be on the lookout for another, can't imagine not having one.

 

[sdm]

 

[sdm]

Okay, got a question for anyone reading this thread at the moment:
How do you tell if your mantis is molting? Phils den is sealed-well, except for a tiny hole in the top, about 1/4" in diameter- and I haven't seen him out yet, which is unusual, as normally he gets up a 8:00am whether the lights are on or not, and right now it's 11:36am. BUT, I saw some sillouette(sp?) that looked a bit like him in the back of the tank when I turned on the lights this morning, but it dissapeared into the algae. Any clue what's going on? (The hermits are actin wierd too, suddenly moving all around the tank, normally they huddle down 'till 9pm. )

 

[sdm]

PHIL MOLTED, PHIIIIIILLLL MOLTED, LALALALALAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!