# Best place to buy a praying mantis?



## Darrell (Jan 4, 2011)

Hello there,

I'm interested to start keeping inverts and thought i'd start with a Praying Mantis , and there's a few tarantula species i'm interested in aswell. Can anyone please recommend the best online shop to look at? 

Cheers

Darrell :2thumb:


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## Nick Masson (Nov 8, 2010)

Ive only ever had an A+ experience when buying mantids from BugsSticksAndMantids. Great wee website & highly recommended


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## Darrell (Jan 4, 2011)

Thankyou, I will take a look


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## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

www.metamorphosis.gb.com ,no contest!


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## andie (Sep 23, 2007)

Or from private breeders at UK Mantis Forums


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## vivalabam (Aug 8, 2010)

Nick Masson said:


> Ive only ever had an A+ experience when buying mantids from BugsSticksAndMantids. Great wee website & highly recommended


I didn't have a good experience with them.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

aren't there any native mantids in the U.K.?


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## andie (Sep 23, 2007)

Nope unfortunatly


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

andie said:


> Nope unfortunatly


 seems like those chinese would do well there... they are everywhere here... a huge pest!

i only have carolina mantids here that are truly native... the chinese are taking over... eating all the butterflies and outcompeting the carolina...

too bad i am not allowed to send a bucket of those chinese mantids there...


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## andie (Sep 23, 2007)

Sadly those chinese mantid oothecae are bought in bulk and sold over here and advertised as ideal starter mantids to which they are not. Most die and put people off trying again with a more suitable species.. I can't understand why sellers want to put their buyers off from another purchase.


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## Nick Masson (Nov 8, 2010)

vivalabam said:


> I didn't have a good experience with them.



Really? What went wrong?


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## vivalabam (Aug 8, 2010)

Nick Masson said:


> Really? What went wrong?


He was all nice when I went to see him and getting money out of me, then was really nasty and unhelpful afterwards.


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## Nick Masson (Nov 8, 2010)

Hmmmm....that aint so good! I couldnt fault the guy tho to be honest. Good prices, good communication/packing etc. And when i requested females from him he always delivered, plus the Mantids were always immaculate. Sometimes things change though i guess


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## vivalabam (Aug 8, 2010)

Can't fault his stock, but he is just a very rude person.


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## lil lizzie (Apr 27, 2009)

i got a nice sized one from the reptile room the other day in clevleys  orrr metamophosis website they have a few nice ones


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## Darrell (Jan 4, 2011)

Thanks for the replys guys i'll take a look at them all later when i get a chance


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## MustLoveSnails (Aug 2, 2009)

I bought a lovely little one from natural world experience a while back


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## Darrell (Jan 4, 2011)

MustLoveSnails said:


> I bought a lovely little one from natural world experience a while back


Thanks ill look there to :lol2:, does anyone have any favourite mantids? or what would be the best starter prayin mantis to get ?


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## kooky1 (Feb 22, 2010)

i used to have mantids,all mine came from ukmantisforums,they were all from private sellers and were posted to me very well packed etc,i love mantids theyre so easy to look after and great to watch when theyre eating lol and as mentioned dont get the chinese mantids they usually die or the ooths dont hatch just a rip off! ive had some gorgeous mantids in the past and lots have beautiful threat displays,good luck with getting one you like ps you could try the spider shop online ive had tarantulas from them in the past,and i think they stock mantids as well but i reccomend uk mantis forums lots of reputable breeders on there (just my opinion as i have had good experiences on there)


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

vivalabam said:


> He was all nice when I went to see him and getting money out of me, then was really nasty and unhelpful afterwards.


haha u make me laugh, u were the one doubting my stock and saying it on hear, but then who was the one asking me for help on how to get ur mantids paired up, and oh yeh they did mate after i gave u help, maybe if i didnt get a load of attitude from u i would have helped u sooner


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## Harbinger (Dec 20, 2008)

Sad truth about Tenodera 
Try finding Rob Byatt or Craig Smith (username Gurd) and Cosmicbugs (Andrew), not sure if thier on here but they are are UKmantisforums and bugnation, every single mantid i've ever had has been from them and they are always very healthy and strong individuals


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## Alex James (Feb 27, 2011)

Nothing is cuter than a little snowbaby that is made from real baby.


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## vivalabam (Aug 8, 2010)

shep1979 said:


> haha u make me laugh, u were the one doubting my stock and saying it on hear, but then who was the one asking me for help on how to get ur mantids paired up, and oh yeh they did mate after i gave u help, maybe if i didnt get a load of attitude from u i would have helped u sooner


I never gave you attitude until you gave it to me, I asked you a simple question and I got a response similar to this one. I only messaged you asking for help because you told me to. I then get a nasty response from you again so I've just given up now. I just hope people see you for this rude person that you are, you'll soon lose business like you have mine. 

And for your information your advice on pairing them was useless and I tried for weeks doing that. I then went onto UK mantis forum, took their advice and they paired.


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

vivalabam said:


> I never gave you attitude until you gave it to me, I asked you a simple question and I got a response similar to this one. I only messaged you asking for help because you told me to. I then get a nasty response from you again so I've just given up now. I just hope people see you for this rude person that you are, you'll soon lose business like you have mine.
> 
> And for your information your advice on pairing them was useless and I tried for weeks doing that. I then went onto UK mantis forum, took their advice and they paired.


haha ukmf yeh right thats y u was sending me messages all the time on facebook, i could just put up all the fb messages then everyone can see all the help i gave u to get them paired up, ur so full of urself thinging ur something special like a few others on this invert section


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## vivalabam (Aug 8, 2010)

shep1979 said:


> haha ukmf yeh right thats y u was sending me messages all the time on facebook, i could just put up all the fb messages then everyone can see all the help i gave u to get them paired up, ur so full of urself thinging ur something special like a few others on this invert section


I did send you messages and you did help for a while yes, I admit, but it did take some effort. And then you started getting nasty with me again and I've just given up. UK mantis forum is brilliant, so many friendly people, each time I've ordered of a private seller they have sent more and all are very cheap (would recommend this to the OP).

Anyway enough of this, instead of telling the OP how awesome your shop is and what you have to offer them you go on an attack at me, I'm sure he and others can see what you're like and I hope it puts them off using your shop. I wish I never did, was the most awful experience I've had in the hobby. 

I will post no more on the matter, if you have a problem with me, PM me.


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

then dont keep going on then:bash:


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## andie (Sep 23, 2007)

shep1979 said:


> ur so full of urself thinging ur something special like a few others on this invert section


Way to drum up business simon, still as hostile as ever..


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

andie said:


> Way to drum up business simon, still as hostile as ever..


yeh i love it thats why i got a booming internet shop and the public shop is getting better each week, it keeps me busy :2thumb:


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## MustLoveSnails (Aug 2, 2009)

andie said:


> Way to drum up business simon, still as hostile as ever..


 Always bites you in the tush in the end


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## The Rook (Mar 17, 2010)

I recently bought my first from The Spider Shop, its all good, but unfortunatly they have a small number of stock & just so happened to have the species I was after.


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## Darrell (Jan 4, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your replys and your help a shame that it had to turn into an argument though :whistling2:

Cheers people! 


Darrell:2thumb:


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## The Rook (Mar 17, 2010)

Darrell said:


> Thanks everyone for your replys and your help a shame that it had to turn into an argument though :whistling2:
> 
> Cheers people!
> 
> ...


No probs. Arguments are nothing unusual here, thats what happens when you pack in brilliant people who all specialise in the same thing.


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## Darrell (Jan 4, 2011)

The Rook said:


> No probs. Arguments are nothing unusual here, thats what happens when you pack in brilliant people who all specialise in the same thing.


Nothing wrong with a bit of harmless debating/rivalry :lol2:


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## Rob Byatt (Mar 16, 2009)

Sorry to drag up an old post but it's nice to see some positive feed back from relatively recently : victory:

I'm trying to get back into breeding more stock again, so any old friends.....get in touch!


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