# Has your mantid bit/caught/scratched/chewed you?



## collinchang635 (Sep 13, 2008)

Just curious. Has anyones mantid caught your finger and started chewing on it before? Has anyone been bitten/scratched by a mantid? Can a big mantid like a Giant Malaysian Shield Mantid catch a finger in its claws and start chewing? Would it do that if you wiggled your finger in front of it?


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## idolomantis (Sep 13, 2008)

tenodera,s do this all the time.


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## Mantis_Whisper (Sep 13, 2008)

Well I've been stabbed multiple times when I was younger by the chinese population... I didn't know how to hold them.

Now I rarely get caught, but on rare occasions with a moody mantis yes. I also hand feed with my real hand, I got caught once by my female chinese.


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## collinchang635 (Sep 13, 2008)

Mantis_Whisper said:


> Well I've been stabbed multiple times when I was younger by the chinese population... I didn't know how to hold them.Now I rarely get caught, but on rare occasions with a moody mantis yes. I also hand feed with my real hand, I got caught once by my female chinese.


What do you mean by stabbed? When you got caught did your mantid start chewing on your hand?


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## Mantis_Whisper (Sep 13, 2008)

I Like Mantis said:


> What do you mean by stabbed? When you got caught did your mantid start chewing on your hand?


Oh sorry, meant pinched. The males would pinch me with thier forearms.

No, I've never really been chewed on before.


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## MantidLuver (Sep 13, 2008)

My Bolbena Hottentotta male was chewing on my finger yesterday. Thankfully hes small enough that it didnt hurt. Freaked my out though, lol


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## Krissim Klaw (Sep 13, 2008)

Never been intentionally attacked by a mantis, but when I was a kid my first mantis, a chinese female accidentally grabbed my finger instead of the cricket I was trying to hand feed her. As soon as she snagged my finger she started to bring it to her mouth, but when I pulled back, she immediatly released me. With as easily as she let go I think she must have realized she made a mistake because I can't see myself having been able to pull a cricket away from her using the same little amount of force.

As for injuries, there was no skin breakage, just a little momentary redness where her claws pricked me.


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## Rick (Sep 13, 2008)

Mantids who are grabbed often respond by reaching back. The points on the end of their front legs are like needles and can stick you. Had it happen a million times while catching wild chinese mantids. Mantids generally do not bit or grab you. It is best not to grab them to prevent this.


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## collinchang635 (Sep 14, 2008)

Rick said:


> Mantids who are grabbed often respond by reaching back. The points on the end of their front legs are like needles and can stick you. Had it happen a million times while catching wild chinese mantids. Mantids generally do not bit or grab you. It is best not to grab them to prevent this.


Do chinese mantids have a reputation of scratching/catching people?


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## idolomantis (Sep 14, 2008)

I Like Mantis said:


> Do chinese mantids have a reputation of scratching/catching people?


the're really ferocious.


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## Mantis_Whisper (Sep 14, 2008)

idolomantis said:


> the're really ferocious.


It depends. I had my wild ones attack (the males) when I first caught them, but after that they either walked all along my hand or flew away. They never really tried to attack me again. I also never got attacked by my female.


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## MantidLord (Sep 14, 2008)

I got bit by my Iris oratoria female yesterday. She grabbed hold of my male, so I took them out of the cage and had to pry him out of her claws. My index finger went to close to her mouth, and she bit me. I didn't bleed, but it did tear rip a small piece of skin. But like I said, she was just trying to eat the male, and I got in the way. &lt;_&lt;


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## yeatzee (Sep 14, 2008)

Yes, and according to a docter i got a rare childhood disease from it called HSP.


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## Giosan (Sep 14, 2008)

yeatzee said:


> Yes, and according to a docter i got a rare childhood disease from it called HSP.


HSP as in: Highly Sensitive Person? or Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia?

Is that a joke? The second one is a real disease you know. The first one is... well, a new kind of theory for sensitive persons.

And if you mean it then i must say i don't think you have this disease because a mantis bit you.


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## yeatzee (Sep 15, 2008)

No I'm serious, i had it when i was 7. I don't remember the full name of it as it was too big for me when i was 7 but it was abbreviated as HSP. I was bit by a female who had just laid her ooth and immediatly after i started to get sick so my mom took me to the docter, they saw what it was and asked if i was bitten by any insects prior to the symptoms and i was by the mantid. They don't know if insect bites are the sure cause but thats what they thought when i had it.


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## Giosan (Sep 15, 2008)

I see. Well, doctors can be pretty weird sometimes. :lol: I know some insects can do a human harm when they bite or sting, but the mantis has no venom or any sort of toxic fluid at all. I mean she couldn't have 'injected' anything in you.

I'm pretty sure the illness was new for them, as they couldn't find a cause they blamed it on the mantis.


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## The_Asa (Sep 15, 2008)

Doctors


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## idolomantis (Sep 15, 2008)

Giosan said:


> I see. Well, doctors can be pretty weird sometimes. :lol: I know some insects can do a human harm when they bite or sting, but the mantis has no venom or any sort of toxic fluid at all. I mean she couldn't have 'injected' anything in you.I'm pretty sure the illness was new for them, as they couldn't find a cause they blamed it on the mantis.


Well there could be backteries on the mantis' jaw, just like monitors.

If the mantis atea cricket which had bacteries on it, they might be on the mantis' jaw ja know.

So no real venom but backteries.

When it bites, the backteries may have fall in the blood of the person


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## yeatzee (Sep 15, 2008)

yea thats what they said it was _probably_ from......


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## The_Asa (Sep 15, 2008)

Seems improbable that a cricket carrying bacteria could transmit it to the mantids jaws fully or partially which would then bite you, piercing the skin and infecting a human with a disease. If that happened then you would think that there would be more of those types of infections in germ ridden cricket populations (Germany)


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## Rick (Sep 16, 2008)

This thread cracks me up. THe last thing you should worry about is a mantis biting you. When I said I have been stuck or pinched it was due to grabbing a mantis in the wild. It is best not to grab your captive mantids but instead to coax them onto your hand. Mantids do not attack humans. They can just freak out a bit when grabbed.


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## Rob Byatt (Sep 16, 2008)

:lol: :lol:


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## collinchang635 (Sep 16, 2008)

Rick said:


> This thread cracks me up. THe last thing you should worry about is a mantis biting you. When I said I have been stuck or pinched it was due to grabbing a mantis in the wild. It is best not to grab your captive mantids but instead to coax them onto your hand. Mantids do not attack humans. They can just freak out a bit when grabbed.


As in grabbing do you mean holding the thorax or holding the whole mantid?


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