That's a great name! And he sure sounds cool and very cute. I'm sure you miss him, but I'm glad you have such good memories of him. I miss our praying mantis a lot. I just found the tribute video that I made of him on DVD. I thought I had a Windows Media version, but I can't seem to locate it. I watched it today, and I was sad and laughing at the same time. Manny was so cool. And it was really hard to watch him decline so fast as he aged. But we had so much fun with him and learned so much from him. Sounds like you feel the same way about Lucky, which is wonderful. Here's to happy memories of Lucky and Manny!
I also wanted to say that our vet is going to send us a picture of Pete's x-ray from a while back. It is incredible. You can see little fractures in his spine (from his early neglect by the previous owner) that have since healed with a healthy diet and UV, and you can also see some big gas pockets that were making him very uncomfortable. Poor guy. But he's not having those problems at this point. I'll also take a picture of the sutures in his belly the next time I have to give him his medicine. Its pretty amazing to think that he had to go through that surgery twice. So glad he's doing better... Thank you Dr. Riggs and the members of this forum!!
Hi Will and bulgyeyes, As long as we have happy memories of our lost pets, they will never leave you. Pete looks remarkably healthy considering he's been through two ops, he's looking great. Long may his progress continue, which I'm sure it will. We as members can offer support and encouragement but the real thanks go to your vet, Dr.Riggs and your dedication and Pete's fighting spirit, it's going to be a long haul but I know Pete will make it through this. It would be very interesting if we could see those x-rays on here. Thanks for sharing those pics.
Thanks so much, Bruno. I go back at look at my original posts, and you guys were so nice and so supportive. I won't ever forget that. And I can't say enough about Dr. Gary Riggs and his staff at "The Animal Clinic of Wadsworth" (Ohio). The staff is so nice and supportive, and Dr. Riggs is all that plus incredibly talented at diagnostics, surgery, and ongoing care. It's a bit of a hike to get there from where I live, but I actually look forward to going. I always feel confident, calm, and optimistic when I'm there. I feel like Pete is getting the best possible care. I'm sure there might be slight variations on treatment approaches here, but I'm hopeful that what we're doing is working. The first surgery relieved the distended bladder and removed the stones, and the second surgery removed some of the damaged bladder tissue and helped alleviate his digestive problems. And now, as I said, we're just plugging along one day at a time. I'll post the x-ray and a picture of Pete's belly real soon. Thanks again, Bruno!! Will
hi there!, gorgeous Pete on the scene, how good he looks in the pics!. Looking at his face i have strong evidence that needs no words for those people that firmly believe that animals have no soul. well, just look at Pete's face, he not only have a soul but a beautiful one. I have always loved looking deep inside animals eyes, i suppose because i always wanted to know what they think, wouldnt that be great?. what you reckon Pete is thinking about you?. i also adore their simplicity, i think sometimes how much better we would be if we just enjoy what we have instead of always wanting more and better. shouldnt it be better if we were inside the terrarium instead?, at least it would give us time to set back and think and mostly, appretiate what is being given to us. I wanted to thank you Will and Bruno for your kind words to Bulgyeyes, you cannot imagine how good it is to me, having people giving these kind of feedback to him, as he has had people around him trying to convince him that to become a tough man (assuming that it should be his ultimate goal) he needs to learn the "art" of hunting, forgetting his appreciation for life of any kind as precious as it is. so thanks again, you have me proved me right on his eyes i suppose.
Crusty, I gotta be honest with you. When Pete looks at me these days, I think he is thinking, "Oh God. You're not going to stick any syringes in my mouth or try to stick a tube where the sun don't shy, are ya?" Ha, ha! Honest, I LOVE the sweet look on his face. Uros have that perpetual "smile," but he definitely has different looks in his eyes. I would love to know what he is thinking sometimes. I can sit and watch him for long periods of time. I get mesmerized. He is so fascinating. As far as being a "man" goes, to me that means following what you believe is right despite derision or resistance from others. I like to do active things, and I like to play some sports, but I am definitely not a sports guy. If you ask me who's playing this weekend, I couldn't tell you. At all. I couldn't care less. Some people think that's really weird, but I think it's weird that they care. How does that express any kind of confidence or originality? To me, mere conformity and doing what every other guy does just because that's what guys do is not very manly at all. In fact, I think it's pretty weak. I love animals and nature, and yeah, I'm a sucker for sad movies. I'm probably what you'd call a hopeless romantic. And I've always been that way. And sure, I've sometimes been the object of ridicule as a result. But now I just feel sorry for those who found it necessary to "go there." Actually, I don't really feel all that sorry for them. I don't think about them very much at all. I focus on following my heart and doing what I feel is right. To me, it doesn't get much more manly with that. My wife agrees. : ) One thing I share in common with our new President is an obsession with one of our past Presidents, Abraham Lincoln. I would like to share one of my favorite Abraham Lincoln quotes with Bulgyeyes: "If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything." Heck yeah. That's being a man! Good day, Will
Hi Will!!. sorry i didnt reply sooner, i am a bit complicated with time lately. you know, i really apreciate your words to a great extent. i believe from the bottom of my heart that we people are striving for pacifiers in a world made out of warriors. it does makes sense to me that being a bit more inspired by nature and the beauty of the simple things in life, which honestly are the things that matters, would make anybody an outlier these days, it would never occur to me that a person of your character may be weird, on the contrary i think that people that are too preoccupied on the achievement of things and power, that never enjoy the magic of what is there in front of them and for free they are the weird ones. i do appreciate life to the fullest and to the simplest, i do appreciate any living creature does not matter how small or insignificant, as a matter of fact, the smaller the creature the more it amazes me to think that inside its little body there is a complete organised biological system that makes them just perfect to survive, the miracle of life, like somebody said in some post, who cares about fish, well why not, they are alive and they form part of this magical orchestra that is life, if they were not here, i am very confident that this symphony wouldnt sound the same. i hope God is much more compassionate towards us and our fate than some people is towards the fate of the weak defenseless creatures that falls in our hands. . Lincoln was a truly iconic great man, one of those that change the course of humanity, too bad we dont seem to have one of them anymore!. but again his legacy will never die!, thanks for sharing it with us!, i think it cause quite an impression to bulgyeyes
No worries. It's the end of the semester here, so I've been swamped as well. Between work and taking care of Pete (who continues to make steady but slow progress), all I've got left over in the way of free time is to hopefully get a walk in at night. There is a big pond right next to us, and it is teeming with life right now. The Canada Geese eggs are hatching, so we've got all kinds of cute little geese running around, and we also discovered a very cute muskrat living in the pond. We watched him (or her) for about an hour the other evening. I know what you mean when you talk about marveling at the characteristics of all creatures, great and small, who have developed over many, many years such amazing and interesting adaptations. The muskrat is such a stealthy swimmer, and seems to have such curiosity. It is a very graceful and beautiful animal. We love going down to the pond even more now! Still waiting on Pete's x-ray image. The vet assistant said she'd e-mail it to us, but has not as of yet. No biggee. They are incredibly busy as well, and I can't expect them to remember something like that. However, we have to make a check-up appointment for our chinchillas, so I'll ask again then. All the best, Will
hi will its me bulgeyeyes, yesterday i found a big pool of blood in the tank me and my mum were looking to see who it was when we found spot, his tail dropped of about 4" from the tip, my mum was panicing so much. he looks really, really weak, he doesnt even want to eat or walk around. ill send in some pics of spots tail and also of the rest of them. good luck with pete bye.
Hi Bulgyeyes, I would have a trip to vet and have that wound checked out, it may need sealing, so it doesn't get infected. He may need anti-biotics as well. If he's lost blood then he will be weak. Please get to vet a.s.a.p. any vet should be able to dress that wound, if the rep vet is too far away. Hope he will be OK
thanks bruno, i am going to go to the vets this monday, we got this appointment every 2 weeks to get spot a check up on his spinal injury, the vet said that his tail was going to drop of because ther was no blood circulation due to the spinal injury.
hi will today i got this prey mantis its tiny probably about an inch long he's bright green with a yellow stripe down his back and he's always doing that swaying movement that they do, i called him mantis heres some pics just go to the left where it sais albums and click on mantis. could you give me some tips on keeping them please. anyway how is pete i hope he's doing good. bye will.
Wow! Very neat! And I know just what you're talking about when you mention the swaying movement. As for care, we got "Manny" when the weather was turning cold, so when the insects went away, we ordered fly larvae from a biological supply store. We put a few of these in his cage at a time. As they'd hatch, Manny would eat them. It was pretty cool the way we had it worked out. Mantids are carnivorous insects, and they like to eat things like moths, flies, crickets, grasshoppers, etc. Since yours is obviously young, you don't want to feed him insects that are too big or will hurt him. You might start with some small moths or flies that you catch, or some small crickets that you catch or buy from a pet store. Avoid bugs with hard shells, like pill bugs or beetles. And obviously, don't feed him things like bees as these can REALLY hurt him. We kept Manny in a small glass terrarium and we started out feeding him (before the flies) by putting moths in this cage. This sometimes can be hard to do because you have to be quick so they don't escape after you release them in the cage and try to put the top back on. You'll get the hang of it. Mantids also LOVE to hang upside down, so if you can get a terrarium with a screen top, he'll love that. Plus we had a stick about 1-inch thick running diagonally across the cage from bottom to top. They love to crawl on things and hang off of things. We would also put soft evergreen branches or branches with leaves in his cage. We also provided him with a little water dish and changed it every single day. We basically tried to create a little forest for him. You'll have to let me know how this goes. Our little Manny was so friendly and social. Like I said, he loved to come out of his cage and sit on top of my hat, or on my shoulder. Keep me posted!! Will
Yes! Take Rick78 up on his offer. From what I've seen, you'll learn all you need to know about caring for mantids at this forum. Thanks Rick78!
thank you very much will and rick, i also noticed that mantid loves green things when i was bringing him home from school my friend told me to put something green in there so i put in my geen highlighter and he wouldnt get of it all the way home, and now he wont get of the leaves at all. thanks again.
Yes! Green is his natural cover. They blend in really well, and this protects them from attacks from birds and other creatures that prey on them. Imagine how hard it would be for a bird to spot your green mantis hanging upside down underneath a green leaf! I guess I should stop saying "him" and "his." From the pics I can't tell if yours is a male or a female. Here's a good mantis page that tells you near the bottom of the page how to tell the difference: How to raise a praying mantis
Hi Bruno, Dr. Riggs sent us Pete's x-rays today. Here they are: The top one really shows the gas pocket and two spine fractures from his earlier days. Hope you're doing well, Will
wow thats a hug gas pocket, and you can definitely see the spine fracture. Never seen reptile x-rays...till now.
