# Mantis hand feeding question



## Trollolloller (Jul 5, 2013)

I got a few mantids (a Chinese mantis and two ghost mantids). I've been having to hand feed them for the past few weeks because they are too big for fruit flies and I haven't been able to get larger flies for them, so I've been hand feeding them meal worms. I was just wondering: when I am able to get flies and stop having to hand feed them, will they still "remember" how to hunt and catch their own food? I think they will, it's just I imagine it sorta being like a bird who's mamma never taught her to fly, or a cheetah cub who was never taught how to hunt.


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## Paradoxica (Jul 5, 2013)

I'm sure they'll be fine, they don't learn from their parents like vertebrates do. They operate entirely on instinct.

However sometimes my mantids don't go for hand feeding, so I'll Tie thread to a piece of worm and then dangle it in front of them till they catch it ( I think Patrick Fraser called this "Fishing for mantids"  )


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## patrickfraser (Jul 5, 2013)

Whatever works, work it, :lol: As soon as they have something to get, that they _can _get, they will go back to hunting. Where do you live that you don't have access to flies for weeks on end? I raise my own, but there are plenty outside. Just look for some  and grab a net. :lol:


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## Trollolloller (Jul 5, 2013)

Hehe. Yeah, just checking. My Chinese right now is trying to catch the cricket I put in it's container. He's tried multiple times to strike at it, but I think it's having issues with it's curved forearm and is having trouble grabbing it. I know mantids can catch prey with one forearm, because I've seen my ghost mantids catch one fruit fly and then grab another with one forearm before they even finish eating the one they've got, haha. But the cricket is pretty big, a full sized adult cricket, and might be too big for him to catch with one arm. Either way, I'm confident that they'll be fine. It's just irritating to hand feed them, the ghost mantids especially, cuz they wont usually grab onto the worm for awhile after they start eating it and I have to hold it there for like, 10-20 minutes before they are done eating or grab onto it. The Chinese mantis though will not only eat it much quicker, but will grab onto it real quick. He's also much bigger than my ghost mantids though.


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## OctoberRainne (Jul 5, 2013)

Ofcourse lol,I started a lot of my first mantids completely on being hand fed and even from L4 to adult,the desire to hunt was always there,I think they just act purely out of instinct and hard wired behaviour,if they are hungry or even see food while still having room,they mainly just go after it unless they are ooth heavy or prepping to molt,so I think they will get hungry once you stop and grasp that hey thats a prey item and attack,it may take a few extra days but it will happen


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## Trollolloller (Jul 6, 2013)

Yeah, except it seems my mantids eat a lot right before molting and then stop eating for about a day after molting. Don't know why, sounds like they are supposed to stop eating before molting, but mine seem to eat more.


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## minomantis (Jul 6, 2013)

Like everyone said before a mantids instinct is VERY strong and hard wired in them. I'll compare mantids that I'm raising inside to mantids that are outside and there is a clear difference. In a sense they get a little lazy with their behavioral instincts. On a small scale I've noticed mantids outside will sway whenever the wind blows, a twig, moves or anything really but I've notice my mantids inside don't do that. They don't need to do that because they are in a container which doesn't feel the breeze. Once I put them on my house plant in front of the window and feeling the breeze. After about 10-15 minutes, I've noticed that they have picked that behavior right up again. It never went away, I guess they just had to locate it again. But mantids will very quickly go back to instinct when necessary!


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## fleurdejoo (Jul 6, 2013)

I'm with Patrickfraser. Go outside and find some dog pooh. It's super easy to catch the flies.

Just pop a deli cup over them they fly to the top, then slide the lid on.

Precarious told me that when I was out of flies and it's super easy!


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## Mvalenz (Jul 7, 2013)

They never lose their instincts. Like riding a bike. You never forget.


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## ScienceGirl (Jul 7, 2013)

It depends on the mantis and how long it's been since they've caught something. A characteristic that categorizes something as "living" is that it can adapt to it's environment. (Basically, as my Biology teacher had said, "birds do it, bees do it, rocks don't." is the rule for differences of living vs. non-living.) If your mantids are used to their food being found at their mouths, offered by fingers, they'll absorb that as how their food is found. It may take them a while to catch food again, but in most circumstances, they'll still be able to do it. It just won't be as easy as having their food arrive, cleaned and prepared, at their mandibles.


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## Trollolloller (Jul 7, 2013)

minomantis said:


> Like everyone said before a mantids instinct is VERY strong and hard wired in them. I'll compare mantids that I'm raising inside to mantids that are outside and there is a clear difference. In a sense they get a little lazy with their behavioral instincts. On a small scale I've noticed mantids outside will sway whenever the wind blows, a twig, moves or anything really but I've notice my mantids inside don't do that. They don't need to do that because they are in a container which doesn't feel the breeze. Once I put them on my house plant in front of the window and feeling the breeze. After about 10-15 minutes, I've noticed that they have picked that behavior right up again. It never went away, I guess they just had to locate it again. But mantids will very quickly go back to instinct when necessary!


My ghost mantids seem to sway all on their own, wind or no wind. Maybe they see the bushes moving outside the window, but they probably don't get to feel the breeze from inside. They still sway though, like a dead leaf in the wind.



fleurdejoo said:


> I'm with Patrickfraser. Go outside and find some dog pooh. It's super easy to catch the flies.
> 
> Just pop a deli cup over them they fly to the top, then slide the lid on.
> 
> Precarious told me that when I was out of flies and it's super easy!


Good information to know, I will most definitely try this next time. Just got back from vacation and found my flies in front of my door, so they have food now, even though many of them hatched in the heat outside. Don't know how long they've been sitting there for.

Also, my chinese mantis I watched as she tried to catch the cricket in her container the other day, but had difficulty with her curved forearm. This morning I noticed she was showing interest in the cricket again. I looked away for no more than a minute, then back, and she had the cricket, and eventually managed to eat most of it. So I know she's doing well, I just think the ghosties aren't hungry enough yet.


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## ScienceGirl (Jul 8, 2013)

Flies are good for encouraging the stalking of prey. If your mantids are unable to catch the flies at first, try refrigerating the flies for several minutes before reintroducing them. Insects are essentially "cold-blooded" and the cold simply slows their bodies down.


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