Materials: Borrby
Description: We adopted a praying mantis female from the garden (before the frost) and were looking for vases to make into terrariums. We stumbled across the large Borrby lanterns - scoree! A perfect size, beautiful, and a much better access than a vase (door on the side).
A few modifications were needed, starting with removing the nail sticking up in the middle (I thought it would snip off but it required some dremel work).
Next was the "windows" which were are probably small enough to keep the mantis in, but certainly too big to contain her food (crickets) - so I glue-gunned mosquito screen from an old window on the side vents. I left the top level of vents open, and instead put a piece of screen across the entire access to the "attic" section.
A piece of cedar shim glued to the back wall gives a nice rough surface to climb on.
The tabs and slots construction left some large openings around the bottom walls, so they got a bead of caulking.
A piece of a plank became a base for plants and sticks, and a dollar store pot holder turned into a nice woven carpet.
Linda (the beast) seems lo like her new abode - she loves to hang out on the screen ceiling, and if we open the door she climbs out all over her house.
~ David d'Anjou, Montreal
hehehe great hack. reminds me how people use this http://www.ikea.com/de/de/catalog/products/80099224 often for reps & insects in summer. :D
ReplyDeleteYikes! In the U.S. I believe that's illegal because they're endangered. You've also potentially kept her from laying her eggs? They do that this time of year and then they hatch in the spring.
ReplyDeleteLOVE this. Not illegal in the States, though I don't purport to know how it affects their spawning.
ReplyDeleteoh my gosh she's gorgeous! I love the pose for the camera and the inquisitive, beady eyes.
ReplyDeleteI also love this lantern house. I've been thinking about keeping a pet insect of some sort and this is perfect. Lucky Linda!
Best hack for ages. Cheered me right up.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful hack! Gives me some ideas for a butterfly house for sure. As for legality, praying mantis are not endangered. It's an urban legend in the U.S.
ReplyDeletegreat IDEA, but she needs more room than that.
ReplyDeleteIf she's already mated, which is likely by this time of the year, she'll probably lay her eggs in her new home. I used to catch and keep a mantis every year for several years when I was a kid in Phoenix. Though I'd keep mine in a large terrarium. One year I caught a male and a female and put them together. Of course he ended up dead, but she left behind a slew of eggsacs before she finally died of old age late in the fall. Sure enough, come spring I was able to release a slew of baby mantises into our yard.
ReplyDeleteThey rock!
Wow I always thought about something like this. I think they are so cool. Is she brown? Around here they are bright green. I used to have them all over my yard at my old house, one night I was out side and there was one by the light on the outside wall. He was just sitting there with a moth in his hands munching it like a sandwich.
ReplyDeleteYou can buy egg sacs at nurseries.
wow! its really one of a kind.. i love also the plants inside, it looks refreshing.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. Totally unexpected as an Ikea Hack and oh, what a nice home! Simply Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteProbably needs more room.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea. However, this borrvy lantern should only be placed outside the house because insect bites can be very dangerous to the visitors if it's displayed in the living room area.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I used these exact lanterns as center pieces for my wedding, since I have several of them I am always looking for new ideas to put them to use.
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