Just ordered my first Mantis and have some questions about handling and feeding.

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MantisGirl13 said:
:)  I hope he arrives safely! Let us know when he arrives!

- MantisGirl13
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He arrived safely today :) Here are some pics. If it is actually a he I'm going to name him Dante, if its female I'm not sure on a name yet lol. I have to admit I am a little nervous when I have him out of the habitat because he is so tiny and fast and I'm worried to lose him. He gets mad when I try to put him back in the habitat and starts running up my arm lol. When I hold him though he doesn't want to stay still and runs all over my arm and hands and I'm worried I will lose him.

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It might sound weird, but when I start handling a new mantis, I take it to the bathroom. ?

It seems many of my mantids were calmer and easier to handle when in a smaller space. After a few trips, they became comfortable with being handled, and I felt more comfortable handling them. Cover the drains, roll up a towel to put under the door, close the toilet seat and throw a towel over it. Now if your mantis starts jumping around it will be easier to find and you'll worry less about it getting harmed. 

Don't laugh... it works. ?

 
Synapze said:
It might sound weird, but when I start handling a new mantis, I take it to the bathroom. ?

It seems many of my mantids were calmer and easier to handle when in a smaller space. After a few trips, they became comfortable with being handled, and I felt more comfortable handling them. Cover the drains, roll up a towel to put under the door, close the toilet seat and throw a towel over it. Now if your mantis starts jumping around it will be easier to find and you'll worry less about it getting harmed. 

Don't laugh... it works. ?
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That is brilliant! Thank you for that suggestion it makes me a lot more comfortable.

I just fed him successfully for the first time and feeling a lot less nervous :)

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Little Mantis said:
The mantis is very small, is it a L2-L3? it's a cutie.
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Yeah he is a small guy. I imagine L2, L3 but I'm not really sure. Hes a lot smaller than I was expecting though

Edit: I'm going to send a message to the seller and ask though because I suppose its probably a good thing to know lol

 
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(S)He is adorable! I am glad you feel more comfortable holding him/her now!

- MantisGirl13

 
That looks like L2. Glad to know he arrived safely - I've got two chinese babies on the way as of typing this, so hopefully it goes as well for me. Sadly I don't have any fruit flies, but I could feed them small things I find outside instead.

 
Nicolas said:
That looks like L2. Glad to know he arrived safely - I've got two chinese babies on the way as of typing this, so hopefully it goes as well for me. Sadly I don't have any fruit flies, but I could feed them small things I find outside instead.
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Yeah ends up he is L2. I hope they arrive safely for you as well.

By the way when I'm holding my mantis he likes to put his legs in his mouth and suck(?) on them. Is this just a grooming thing? I never see him do it in the habitat but he does it a lot when I'm holding him.

 
Sauromayne said:
By the way when I'm holding my mantis he likes to put his legs in his mouth and suck(?) on them. Is this just a grooming thing? I never see him do it in the habitat but he does it a lot when I'm holding him.
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Yes, he is cleaning himself. There may be some salts on your skin and his feet are extremely sensitive so he can feel any tiny difference. Him doing this a few times is normal, mantises like to keep their feet clean if they've been roaming about but if he is doing it a lot (like every few seconds) you may want to consider washing your hands and arms with an unscented mild bar soap and water and rinse very well before handling him and see if that cuts down on the amount he cleans his feet.

If you've ever taken Microbiology you'll know that human hands are incredibly dirty. Even if you shower everyday you should still be washing your hands regularly several times a day anyway to cut down on the bacteria.

 
Predatorhousepet said:
Yes, he is cleaning himself. There may be some salts on your skin and his feet are extremely sensitive so he can feel any tiny difference. Him doing this a few times is normal, mantises like to keep their feet clean if they've been roaming about but if he is doing it a lot (like every few seconds) you may want to consider washing your hands and arms with an unscented mild bar soap and water and rinse very well before handling him and see if that cuts down on the amount he cleans his feet.

If you've ever taken Microbiology you'll know that human hands are incredibly dirty. Even if you shower everyday you should still be washing your hands regularly several times a day anyway to cut down on the bacteria.
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I figured it had something to do with the oils or salts on my skin. I don't have any mild soaps though so I didn't want to wash my hands right before handling in case that could be harmful.

I'll try getting a mild bar soap and wash with it beforehand to see if it helps because he is constantly cleaning when I'm holding him.

 
As long as it is unscented, any soap is better than nothing (with scented soaps the fragrance particles stick to your hands, even if you rinse extremely well, you'll still be able to smell them...you're trying to get rid of the residues on your hands here, not add them.)

If you have to go out and buy an unscented soap anyway maybe consider something marketed towards babies, these tend to be very mild.

 
@Synapze Just wanted to say that I also handle my mantids in the bathroom sometimes! Usually for adult males that I don't want flying out of reach anywhere. For tiny nymphs, I try to keep them on a big flat surface that is a very different color from them, such as a white towel or sheet of paper. That way it's easier to spot them if they roam.

 
I will keep the bathroom in mind for mantids who can fly when they are adult and  the dog cant't reach them:  good idea?

 
:)  I handle mine in my room, where I have a light tat I can focus on the mantis.

- MantisGirl13

 
I handle the mantids where i am the most. At my desk. Fat Cochise won't fly away. She will crash to the ground?

 
Those adult males can be tricky. I always keep the door of the room where I have my insects closed and the room free of a lot of clutter. I figured that would make it easy enough to find a large adult male mantis that decided he wanted to fly somewhere and usually that is true....but when I was moving my Hierodula membranacea male back to his cage after breeding him he promptly took flight off my hand across the room and under the bed. Theres nothing under the bed but it still took me 20 minutes to find him after crawling under there with a flashlight. He was hiding on the underside of the bedframe way in the back. You do everything you can to try to mantis proof a room and they still seem to find the one weakness you didn't think about. Maybe I need to get a bedskirt to prevent that from happening again.

@Little Mantis I have heard that females do have the ability to fly very short distances but generally don't...probably because of the sheer effort it would take to get themselves airborne. Males can easily take flight because they don't have near the amount of "baggage" weighing them down that females do.

 
Cochise never made any atempt to fly. Sometimes I see her only fluttere her wings. Maybe she can glide whit her wings to prevent hard landings.

 

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