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Breeding and selling captive-bred mantises is more than just a hobby for online mantis shop owner, Kelly Coleby. Since establishing the Cheeky Mantis in 2018, Kelly has been encouraging people to discover the wonders of mantis keeping through advice on her website and by consistently updating her social media pages.
From their base in Basildon, Essex, the Cheeky Mantis offer a range of interesting and unique mantis species such as the Giant Asian Mantis and Cryptic Mantises, both originally from Africa, and the Black Spot Mantis found in the Caribbean.
Being from such exotic climes, these mantis species are at their happiest in temperatures between 20 and 30°C.
The Challenge
Breeding any type of praying mantis species can be a task in itself - this is a shared concern within the world of mantis hobbyists.
The Cheeky Mantis face constant battles in keeping such exotic creatures, especially when it comes to optimising consistent temperature and humidity levels inside their enclosures. Peak enclosure conditions keep the mantis happy and helps them thrive but, ultimately, they ensure they remain alive.
As part of the breeding process, the Cheeky Mantis will take the ootheca - that’s the nest the eggs are laid in - and place them in an incubator where temperatures and humidity can be closely observed. Monitoring these conditions is vitally important.
“Temperature and humidity levels have to be within a certain range to hatch ootheca. If the ootheca are too cold or not kept humid enough, they won't hatch.”
A temperature and humidity monitoring solution that has the ability to warn of any critical changes inside the incubator, but one that also wouldn’t need constant manual checks, was required.
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