# New mantid Mum in the UK



## 5eyesUK (Feb 4, 2019)

Hiya, I got my 1st mantis about 2 weeks ago. 

My last pets were 2 bunnies, they passed aways last summer. Before that Ive been through a snake keeping phase and I had, amongst others, 2 rare morph anacondas. 

Recently my lifestyle changed and I had to downsize and so Ive been researching "pint-sized" pets.  The idea of a praying mantis, something that drew my attention in the past, came and haunted me for a few weeks untill I took a trip to the nearest reptile&amp;bug shop and made an impulse purchase of their African green. 

She (??) is actually light brown, with strange dark patterns on her back. Anyone seen "spotted" mantids? I havent seen such patterns in pic online..... she reminds me the patterns on my carpet python. Does the colour &amp;pattern change as the mantis molts?

It being a pet shop, they had no idea what instar she was..... any ideas? She molted the day before I got her. She is about an inch long head to "bottom". 

Im currently feeding her fruit flies using a homemade pooter from a straw + a bit of netting, it works great! 

My name is Hana. I am 48 and I live in the UK and work as a carer.  A praying mantis is obviously a woman's (like me) best friend 

This looks like a fantastic forum.... I look forward to exploring it. 

Q: can a mealworm bite a nymph? I offered her her first one today, she kept being cautious and avoiding it for sometime. Then she finally grabbed it, had a little grapple with it, bit it and suddenly she jumped and dropped it. I wondered if it bit her, anyway, she was no longer interested so I removed it. It was just slightly smaller then her.


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## Graceface (Feb 4, 2019)

Welcome! Mantids make great pets and are very fun and rewarding to keep. 

I'm not great at identifying species, so I'll let others weigh in on that. Looking at the photos, it is hard to see all the segments on the abdomen. In order to be sure she is a female, we would need to see better photos of her entire abdomen to count the segments. Sure is a cutie, though! 

Yes, a mealworm can bite a nymph. They can do some serious damage, even kill a mantis. To be safest, I would decapitate the mealworm before offering it to your mantis. Crickets can damage and kill mantids, too, FYI. 

This forum is a great resource, and full of awesome, helpful folks. Welcome aboard!


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## hysteresis (Feb 4, 2019)

Hi Hana! Welcome to the forum!

When you serve dissected prey, just slowly present the guts end into the mantis' mouth area. Once they get a taste, they'll grab on.

This doesn't always work with skittish, or small nymphs as the size of the presentation itself freaks them out. 

So yeah, cut the face off her mealworms. Rip the heads off her crickets (do it a certain way and it pulls the upper digestive system out along with it).

Nom nom nom!


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 5, 2019)

Hi mantis people 

Great to hear from you, thanks for your response!

Yea sorry the pics arent great, only using my phone through the glass jar as Im still nervous to handle her/him lol in spite of having handled anacondas in the past. Mainly worried that s/he will jump of and dissapear in the room which is not exactly totally clutter free.. im creating a good space to handle her though, if you have any tips on starting to handle a 1 inch nymph (im not including the span of her legs, just head to end of abdomen) please share them with me. 

Decapitation of feeders nom nom....great, since I am a nearly fully a vegetarian, thatll be a great learning curve. Well, I did choose a mantis, what did I expect lol its a very useful advise though, thank you for the details!! Im going to another reptile shop today where they have mini crickets, so well try something new today.

Re counting the segments, would these be better pics?


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## Mantis Lady (Feb 5, 2019)

Welcome  ,

The pics looks nice but we need to see the underside of the abdomen. That is where you can see the segments where you can see if a mantis is a female or a male.

If you buy crickets, keep an eye on mantis and cricket, they can bite a mantis.(I use grasshoppers, they don't bite. )






On this pic you see the difference of a male and female abodomen.


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## hysteresis (Feb 5, 2019)

Looks like a female to me.

See what others say.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 5, 2019)

She is so cute, welcome! Looks like she will be a handful. she should readily take a mealworm and love it.


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 5, 2019)

Looks like a female. Yes, mealworms can bite. I wouldn't suggest keeping her in a glass jar because of and ventilation. Welcome to the forum!

- MantisGirl13


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 5, 2019)

Hiya MantisGirl13, you have some lovely mantids and write great posts! As I have been searching for basic care info and pics etc, Ive seen quite a few of your posts ☺

Ur right, I wasnt happy with the condensation, she is still in the jar but I have now replaced the lid with holes, with a fibreglass type mesh, all condensation is gone now.

Thank you for your help with segments


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 5, 2019)

hibiscusmile said:


> She is so cute, welcome! Looks like she will be a handful. she should readily take a mealworm and love it.


Hiya, omg why do think she will be a handful?  Although I did choose her from the 2 in the shop because she was the lively and communicative one 

Thank you!


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 5, 2019)

Thanks, @5eyesUK! Mantids should always have good ventilation and good mesh on the lid of the cage to molt from. 

I don't think hibiscusmile means 'handful ' as in difficult, because Sphodromantis species are really easy to care for. 

- MantisGirl13


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 5, 2019)

Little Mantis said:


> Welcome  ,
> 
> The pics looks nice but we need to see the underside of the abdomen. That is where you can see the segments where you can see if a mantis is a female or a male.
> 
> ...


Hi Little Mantis ☺ thank you for these great pics, if really helps.

I guess that wont happen until I start handling her and getting a closer look. I am rather nervous about getting bitten or something and causing damage or losing her lol.

Thank you for advise re crickets. Im only learning and researching about it so only today I read that they are not ideal. Our local shops only sell them or locusts,  mealworms and fruit flies. I will gradually learn to breed these things but for now I was hoping to add something to the fruit flies


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 5, 2019)

5eyesUK said:


> guess﻿ that wont happen unti﻿l I start handling her and getting a closer look. I am rather nervous about getting bitten or something and causing damage or losing her lol.﻿﻿﻿


They are very sturdy, just be careful and she'll be fine. She won't bite if you handle her often. 

- MantisGirl13


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 5, 2019)

MantisGirl13 said:


> They are very sturdy, just be careful and she'll be fine. She won't bite if you handle her often.
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Thanks for reassuring me, I need it ☺ Id definitely like her to enjoy being handled, if possible. 

Do you think that if I put my hand into the jar, towards her, she wont find it threatenning? Im worried about that first moment lol and us both jumping through the ceiling


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## Mantis Lady (Feb 5, 2019)

5eyesUK said:


> Do you think that if I put my hand into the jar, towards her, she wont find it threatenning? Im worried about that first moment lol and us both jumping through the ceiling


She will mostly hanging on the lid, take lid of and turn it and let her walk onto your hand. A big hand in home will look scary in mantis eyes. Did you give her a name?


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 5, 2019)

Little Mantis said:


> She will mostly hanging on the lid, take lid of and turn it and let her walk onto your hand. A big hand in home will look scary in mantis eyes. Did you give her a name?


At the moment she hasnt got a screw-on lid, im using a plastic mesh "fabric" and a rubber band, also the jar has an openning to the side, not at the top. So she is not actually sitting on the lid.... she is inside the jar usually on one of her branches or hanging from the glass at the top. 

Yes, I gave her a terribly cheezy name, Pula, which is a short for Pure Love. Gimme a break


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## Mantis Lady (Feb 5, 2019)

LOL., cheesey names are ok too


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## hysteresis (Feb 5, 2019)

Little Mantis said:


> LOL., cheesey names are ok too


I promised myself I won't name any of our ghosts the most common 'ghost-related' names.


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 6, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> I promised myself I won't name any of our ghosts the most common 'ghost-related' names.


Lol sorry, i just couldnt help it. Shes my first one after all...... i have used up most of cosmic and fantasy names for my  snakes in the past I think, this time I tried to go simple lol


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## hysteresis (Feb 6, 2019)

Oh... but... ANACONDA?

Where'd you handle that?


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 6, 2019)

Btw guys, re identifying her, she was sold to me as Sp. gastrica. I tried to google them and they seem harder to find than lionela etc. Finally I found a vid from Germany where there is one with similar black patterns on the back, so I now can relax in secure knowledge of our ID lol


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 6, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Oh... but... ANACONDA?
> 
> Where'd you handle that?


I was lucky to become a guardian (well, they owned me) of 2 "axanthic" (morph) of yellow anacondas...... long story..... a fab experience...... (sorry gotta dash off to work so I can feed the hungry one lol...will be back later)


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## hysteresis (Feb 6, 2019)

I'll see it in the morning. HAGD!


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 6, 2019)

5eyesUK said:


> At the moment she hasnt got a screw-on lid, im using a plastic mesh "fabric" and a rubber band, also the jar has an openning to the side, not at the top. So she is not actually sitting on the lid.... she is inside the jar usually on one of her branches or hanging from the glass at the top.
> 
> Yes, I gave her a terribly cheezy name, Pula, which is a short for Pure Love. Gimme a break


Cute name! I would suggest moving her to a plastic container with a lid that is not held on by a rubber band. Rubber bands can dry rot and snap and seriously injure a mantis. 

- MantisGirl13


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 7, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> I'll see it in the morning. HAGD!


Hi, sorry had to dig out some old photos of my condas... Axanthic yellow anacondas, about 10ft each. They were a handful but what a beauty to have them in my life for a few years ☺


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 7, 2019)

Look at this goofy creature guys....

She hanging upside down, holding some coco coir in her front legs, shes even munching on that...  mustve been a fruit fly in there somewhere....

I do find her fascinating


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## Mantis Lady (Feb 7, 2019)

lol, Cool picture.


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 8, 2019)

So cute! Good pic!

- MantisGirl13


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## RebelleSinner (Feb 8, 2019)

Oh my! how stinking cute is that?!


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 8, 2019)

Ah LOL ...if I told my friends that people are considering mantises cute.....theyd never understand  

I totally agree, shes one little Missy


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 8, 2019)

5eyesUK said:


> Ah LOL ...if I told my friends that people are considering mantises cute.....theyd never understand


I understand! Same thing with my friends (not MantidForum friends)...

- MantisGirl13


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## Rick (Feb 10, 2019)

Welcome


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 10, 2019)

Hi Rick ☺ Really a great forum, and so much to learn.....


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 10, 2019)

Awww weve had a 1st molt from  this mantis since I bought her 2,5 weeks ago. Yep, my 1st mantis molt EVER!  although I am used to snakes shedding...

She molted just before I bought her too.

Any idea what instar she could be? As I said, its sp. gastrica and she was about 1 inch long (head&amp; body) before she molted, now is a bit bigger.

It happened over night, all seems to be well. So exciting


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 10, 2019)

Congrats on the molt! Post a picture, maybe a side view, and we can try to id instar.

- MantisGirl13


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## 5eyesUK (Feb 10, 2019)

MantisGirl13 said:


> Congrats on the molt! Post a picture, maybe a side view, and we can try to id instar.
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Thanks! She is still soft and not eating, ill try to take a pic when I can.....


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## Mantis Lady (Feb 10, 2019)

Gratz on the molt.

Best to leave her 1 day to dry up before giving her something to eat.


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 10, 2019)

5eyesUK said:


> Thanks! She is still soft and not eating, ill try to take a pic when I can.....


Ok, she should be fine to handle tomorrow.

- MantisGirl13


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## RebelleSinner (Feb 11, 2019)

Beautiful


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