Peacock Mantis time between molts?

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ohaple said:
Here is the best photo I could get

bUzbJSAl.jpg


It appears the right shape but just small.
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Cool how nature works with healing with molts :)

 
Hi!

So, we just got a peacock mantis of around the same age I think (the guy in the shop thought it's probably L5) and he's only been with us for 2 days.  I totally forgot to ask in the shop when he last ate so I'm going to contact them to ask, but it's really interesting to me that you've said about your peacock's abdomen staying round for a long time... ours is definitely looking plump!  How often are you finding he wants to eat now?  Also good to know about the 30-ish day molt cycle, I've found very little care information about his mantis type online :)

 
loislane said:
Hi!

So, we just got a peacock mantis of around the same age I think (the guy in the shop thought it's probably L5) and he's only been with us for 2 days.  I totally forgot to ask in the shop when he last ate so I'm going to contact them to ask, but it's really interesting to me that you've said about your peacock's abdomen staying round for a long time... ours is definitely looking plump!  How often are you finding he wants to eat now?  Also good to know about the 30-ish day molt cycle, I've found very little care information about his mantis type online :)
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Ours is still a rather picky eater. You may need to experiment with different types of prey. Ours will almost never eat crawling prey like worms and roaches. He seems to prefer house flies, but even then the fly must line up in the exact perfect position and then wait several seconds for him to strike. Even when he does strike, he has less than a 50% catch rate. We are trying to feed a fly 3x per week, or whenever his abdomen starts to flatten. He is also a slow eater. On more than one occasion we have hand fed him out of his enclosure then had to wait 2 hours to put him away since he was still eating. My best advice is to buy 2-3 types of prey for yours to test. Also, the prey he will take is smaller than our others. The ghosts and giant rainforest will gladly take prey the size of their abdomen, but the peacock will only go for prey about half that size. We finally named ours Courage because he regularly gets spooked by prey and runs across his enclosure to escape. Ours will not eat fruit flies either since they are too small for him. Even though mine has feeding challenges, it is a cool species to observe. He has taken a stick pose more than a couple times to try to hide. Once he even looped his legs around the branch and hung on by the inside of his knees rather than using the foot-pads for grip. Once like that he took a stick pose and it was honestly very convincing. If I hadn't seen him take the pose I might have lost him.

 
Thanks!  I spoke to the store and found out that he had a roughly medium sized cricket on Friday.  We have crickets at home too so that should match what he's used to, so I guess he's not hungry yet.

They are a great species to observe, for sure.  Ours seems to have loads of energy and he insists on trying to climb the glass of his enclosure instead of the branches..  so he spends a lot of time sliding around or hanging in precarious looking positions!  My kids named him Spiderman and it actually seems appropriate.  And he's so curious.  The second you open his enclosure he's there, trying to go off and explore the world, lol!

 
Just as an update, he molted again to adulthood. 42 days give or take. I did find it interesting that his leg did not grow back at all. It is only slightly larger than after the last molt. I am surprised he didnt make more progress with the leg, but he seems well adapted to having 5 legs. His wings are quite pretty, even folded. I hope he is able to make a proper threat display while standing on three legs.

 
ohaple said:
I am surprised he didnt make more progress with the leg, but he seems well adapted to having 5 legs. 
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I don't know what everyone else's experience is, but I've noticed mantids who are close to adulthood won't grow their legs back, or it takes like 2 molts to get it fully back.

 
minomantis said:
I don't know what everyone else's experience is, but I've noticed mantids who are close to adulthood won't grow their legs back, or it takes like 2 molts to get it fully back.
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He lost his leg two molts ago. His first molt he developed a little leg, less than half normal length. This molt it grew a bit more, to over half the normal length, but still not usable.

Here he is.

WebeJihl.jpg


A1vxPHIl.jpg


Short video: https://i.imgur.com/Et5eIZol.mp4

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks. I have not yet seen a threat display from him, but even the folded wings look great to me. He is such a slim guy compared to our h majuscula.

 
ohaple said:
We named ours Courage because he is actually such a coward. What is your's personality like?
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My kids named ours Spiderman before we got to know him and it actually really suits him as he loves to climb and jump! Especially out of his terrarium 😆  He's got loads of personality. It's fascinating how they're all such individuals.

 

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