u/PuzzlingMoose

Hello all! So, I work at a pet store and a customer I met a few weeks ago delivered me a mantis! I've been wanting one for a while and have been working on a bioactive vivarium. It's pretty established, about a month old, with isopods, springtails, and soil mites. The enclosure is 7in wide and 12in tall.

The only issue is, thought I've been doing a fair bit of research on mantis care, I hadn't planned on getting one so small. I want to give it the best care I can. I'm not sure what instar it is. Full body is about an inch and a half. I bought some flightless fruit flies and a couple small crickets just in case. I want to know if it's safe to move to the vivarium or if I sure wait until it's a little bigger.

Thank you all so much!

Hi all! I'm pretty new to bioactive enclosures and recently set one up about three weeks ago now. All I've put it life-wise are orange koi isopods and springtails. I had a bit of fungus grow where that food was, but it's since gone away. I just noticed these yesterday. They're moving around a little bit, so I assume it's some kind of critter. I just want to know if it's something I should remove or if they're okay to stay. Thank you all so much!

Edit: This is also a super up close photo. To my knowledge, they're all just in this clump and not spread out anywhere else.