One breeder.
Small batches.
No mystery supply chain.
Lobo Mantis is a one-person operation out of a climate-controlled spare bedroom in Las Vegas. Every animal we ship hatched 30 feet from where I'm typing this. No wholesalers, no wild-caught middlemen, no mystery supply chain.
Real keeper.
Real animals.
Real support.
It started with one
ghost mantis
in a takeout container.
I bought my first mantis in 2017 at a reptile show in Southern California. She was a juvenile Phyllocrania paradoxa, sold to me in a deli cup with no care sheet. I named her Haunter. She lived 11 months. By month two, I was reading every paper I could find on captive husbandry.
By the time Haunter passed, I had four more species and a problem: most of what I'd been told at the show was wrong. Wild-caught adults arrived stressed out and died in weeks. Wholesale ooths arrived dehydrated. The hobby was full of new keepers being sold the wrong species, the wrong setup, and zero support.
"I didn't want to start a shop. I wanted to fix the part of the hobby that almost lost me."
Lobo Mantis started in late 2022 as a Discord server with maybe forty people in it and a Google Form for a single batch of Ghost ooths. The form sold out in 90 seconds. The Discord doubled overnight. By spring 2023 I'd converted the spare bedroom into a temperature-controlled bug room with six racks of breeding cultures.
Today I hatch a few hundred mantids a season. Periodic drops when a clutch is ready. Monday shipping to avoid weekend warehouse heat. Every overnight order is backed by a live-arrival guarantee — replacement or refund, no haggling; just record a quick unboxing video. Same Discord, just bigger.
Captive-bred first.
Every animal we sell hatched in our racks. We don't buy adults from importers, we don't resell what we can't trace, we don't glamorize wild collection.
Small batches, sold honestly.
Small clutches, listed honestly. When a batch is gone the shop says sold out — we'd rather show an empty shelf than overcommit a molt.
Heat over speed.
We ship every Monday. Overnight, always. Nothing leaves late in the week, so no animal sits in a warehouse over a weekend.
Nymphs over worn-out adults.
Adults scream in transit. We ship L3–L5 nymphs so the animal grows up in your enclosure and bonds to your care rhythm. Better keepers, better lives.
Support is part of the price.
Post-order gets you Discord access, a written care sheet, and a person who actually replies. The animal is half the deal — the other half is keeping it alive.
Health check.
Each animal going on this week gets a hands-on exam 48hr before ship. Two bad molts off = held back. Not sold.
Pack out.
Ventilated deli cup inside an insulated box, with a heat or cold pack matched to the 3-day forecast at your ZIP.
Overnight ship.
Priority Overnight, never routed over a weekend or holiday. The moment it ships you get tracking by email.
Arrival.
Unbox on camera, offer water, and let the animal settle in its enclosure out of direct sun. Arrives dead? We replace it — or refund if we can't restock.
Aftercare.
Care guides for your exact species, a Discord full of keepers, and a breeder who answers. Stuck at 1 AM? Ask.
For first-time keepers. Respected by experienced ones.
You don't have to know mantises yet.
Take the Help Me Choose flow. Three questions, twenty seconds. You'll get a species that fits your home, a setup list with only what you actually need, and a care guide before the animal ships.
HELP ME CHOOSE →You already know what you want. Skip ahead.
Live stock view is the front door. Filter by difficulty, in-stock, instar. Sold-out becomes a Notify Me. No popup, no quiz takeover, no walls of beginner copy in your way.
SHOP AVAILABLE STOCK →
Do you ship internationally?
Not yet. U.S. lower 48 only — but invertebrate import permits are a project for 2027.
Are mantises legal in my state?
All species we sell are non-native but aren't invasive and legal in every U.S. state we ship to. Hawaii and Alaska are the exceptions (we don't ship live animals there).
Can I tour the bug room?
Since it's a home setup I don't do in-person visits, but I post quarterly virtual tours in the Discord — pinned in #welcome.
Do you take wholesale orders?
No. Lobo is intentionally direct-to-keeper. We'd rather sell six animals to six excited new keepers than thirty to one reseller.
What happens if my mantis arrives dead?
A replacement — or a refund if we can't restock soon. Record a continuous unboxing video within 1 hour of delivery and file your claim at lobomantis.com/claim, where you upload the video. Covers dead-on-arrival on Priority Overnight orders only.
Can I visit a Lobo Mantis booth at a show?
Not yet — when we table at a show, Discord hears about it first.
Why are some species sold out?
We breed small batches. When they're gone, they're gone until the parent line produces another viable clutch. We won't pull from a wholesaler to fake stock.
What should I buy before my mantis arrives?
Run the Help Me Choose flow — it tells you exactly what you need based on the species you pick. Usually: enclosure, fruit fly culture, misting bottle.
Do I need to join Discord?
No. It's optional. But the fastest help and the earliest drop alerts are there. Median question reply time is around 12 minutes.
Want to talk mantises?
I read every message.
Best place: #new-keeper-help in Discord — fastest reply, public answer that helps the next person too. Email's fine for orders, privacy, or anything you don't want public.