# wood eating mantis



## skinnylegs (Apr 8, 2007)

yesterday one of my africans was about to catch a locust.she was on a leaf near the botom of the tank.when she went to nail it she missed,insted she grabbed a piece of bark substrate.i thought she would have droped it but insted she just kept eating.is this harmful?i supose a bit of ruffage in her diet will do her no harm


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## Rick (Apr 8, 2007)

I've seen that before. Normally they realize after a few seconds they are not chewing on the insect they were trying to catch.


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## Evil_Berzerker (Apr 18, 2007)

lol funny i just read this becaue before i came on this thread i was reading the one about mantis inteligence and hoe intelligent they are in hunting, obviously not very much in the case of you mantis, no offense i understand insulting a mans mantis is like insulting his wife


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## Ian (Apr 19, 2007)

> i understand insulting a mans mantis is like insulting his wife


Very true  

I have seen this happy many a time, especially when there is a gust of wind, and something moves along the floor of the enclosure.

However I don't ususally use substrate, so this doesn't tend to happen any more.


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis (Apr 19, 2007)

That sort of thing happened to one of my chinese yesterday  , it grabbed a piece of substrate and I thought it would just drop it..but it sat there for at least a minute nibbling it. Its also grabbed gravel aswell, in its defence, its still quite young :roll:


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## skinnylegs (Apr 22, 2007)

Yeah some mantids tend to be very thick at times.once i was looking at one of my africans through the tank.it then went to jump onto my face.it then gave itself a black eye :roll:


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## OGIGA (Apr 22, 2007)

Mantises love to crawl on my face too. I don't know why.


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## skinnylegs (Apr 22, 2007)

yeah its some thing to do with them wanting to be at the highest point at all times or something.


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis (Apr 22, 2007)

Like a hawk with its amazing eyesight, to be an effective predator you need a good vantage point from which to plot your next move...

or of course they might just enjoy sitting daydreaming or taking in the view..


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## AFK (Apr 22, 2007)

> no offense i understand insulting a mans mantis is like insulting his wife


lolcareful, you might also *emotionally *cripple the poor mantis :lol:


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## skinnylegs (Apr 29, 2007)

haha,AFK,lol! :wink:


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