# Help me fast please



## scitch (Nov 24, 2005)

just got a baby ghana matid (s lineola) and its very very small

i gave it a very smallish cricket do you think it will eat this and will it be able to handle it at this age

thank you


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## Jwonni (Nov 24, 2005)

if the cricket is smaller than the mantis i would say definately

if the cricket is the same size i would still say there is a very good chance it will eat the cricket

if the cricket is bigger then i would tend to say get it something smaller

my little nymphs were eating fly with the same or slightly more body size than them but flys cant fight back crickets can


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## scitch (Nov 24, 2005)

thank you


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## Jwonni (Nov 24, 2005)

so whats the outcome do you think it is small enough?


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## hortus (Nov 24, 2005)

i have a appendum to his question.

by the same size do you mean lenght or girth cayse i can ger crickers less than an inch long but they are stocky and my L4 chinese is over an inch long but i dunno how hed handle the cricket . seeing as how he just shed it will take a few days for him to fill out to his true size but im hoping to be able to start the chinese on crickets soon and use my flies to make multiple cultures im exspecting an ooth soon


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## Jwonni (Nov 24, 2005)

an appendum? whats that then?

TBH i think most people underestimate mantids i didn't think mine would have the flys as big as em but straight away when it spotted it, it hunted and got it quickly

when i say same size its not so much the dimensions (ie: either length OR girth) more the bulk (like i'm fatter than a snake but a big snake is longer so we have the same size but proportioned different) as a mantis has its main body but the legs give it extra size so the flys i used were maybe more in body mass but the legs spread on the mantis made them slightly bigger

if the chinese was mine i would wait possibly 48 hours after the shed to be on the safe side (think it usually only takes a day to harden) and put the cricket in and i expect he'll snap it up and tuck in pretty quick now he's got more belly space than before

If ya want him to eat while your there coz your not sure about him eating the cricket poke the cricket with a stick or pencil toward the mantis whenever mine sees one close she goes for it soon as its within range.


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## Samzo (Nov 24, 2005)

lol I had a L3 h.grandis kill and eat (well not much) a crix almost twice its length! Amazing


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## Jwonni (Nov 24, 2005)

pure predator  

i didn't realise what they were capable of at first when i decided i wanted one i thought they would be pretty weak coz their insects and all insects are (so i thought) but then i read about the hummingbirds being eaten and someone posted about a frog and mantis on the mailbox and i thought again frog would win its not an insect and they eat insects but no the mantis won that one.

And recently the pics of the mantis eating the massive lizard again lizards get fed insects so i thought there could only be one winner and their could but it was the mantis


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## hortus (Nov 24, 2005)

> an appendum? whats that then?TBH i think most people underestimate mantids i didn't think mine would have the flys as big as em but straight away when it spotted it, it hunted and got it quickly
> 
> when i say same size its not so much the dimensions (ie: either length OR girth) more the bulk (like i'm fatter than a snake but a big snake is longer so we have the same size but proportioned different) as a mantis has its main body but the legs give it extra size so the flys i used were maybe more in body mass but the legs spread on the mantis made them slightly bigger
> 
> ...


appendum is singular of appendix . like things added in after the end of a book. basiclly i was adding a nother part to his question.

im gonna acctually give it a few days to fill out to its full L4 size then ill go buy a few small crickets and see if he will get it


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## scitch (Nov 24, 2005)

well it ate the cricket which was slighty larger than the mantis  so i think its ok to give them to baby mantids it took it about a hour to eat it

but its ok


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## FieroRumor (Jan 6, 2006)

Glad to hear he took the bait!  

I have fed my mantids PIECES of cricket when they were small. I also had luck feeding them chicken and other things.

When a mantis is hungry, they'll eat almost anything, including their dead brothers and sisters. i don't reccomend feeding them dead things, though, they can get sick from it.

-FR


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## Tapos (Jan 6, 2006)

i was once told if you feed S. lin. crickets at that age they will have trouble molting, and the use of FFs is prefered? anybody else?


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