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just went to go check on my mantis and he has floppy abdomen disease. hanging at a 90 degree angle. I think I may just keep him over night and if it corrects itself great. I was expecting him to molt today but he didn't. If he survives the night though yet it doesn't correct itself, I'll just...

crickets, wax worms, wax moths, blue bottles, mealworms, sometimes honey as a little treat. Anytime I'm outside I look for something new for my mantises to try.

I've had the same thing happen with the legs. I have no idea what causes them to stretch out and get all curved like that. But I've had it happen before on the back legs. They usually get around just fine, just a little difficulty clinging on to the lid and sticks etc. A molt should fix it.

good to hear she didn't have anything serious happen. I've had so many close calls with moltings I have no idea how lucky I am for most of them to get through it without any deformaties. Watch for signs of molting though from now on, decrease appetite to the point of them not eating for a good 2...

Lesson learned...don't put mantises with other animals that EAT insects. Thats common sense if you ask me.

I've seen some crazy videos of mantises catching goldfish, but the fish was in a small little petri dish like thing with barely an inch of water. But a full blown mini pond in your tank is just asking for trouble.

could ya update us about the vision? One of my mantises had a slight dent in her right eye one day, not sure how it happened. Turned slightly cloudy and then dissipated shortly after, but the dent is still there. Everything is fine, wondering if molts can repair eye injuries!

should probably grow back next molt. My chinese mantis grew back the entire foot part of her feet that branch off her raptors in a single molt. Was pretty amazing.

Yeah worst thing I've ever seen corrected was some missing antenna and the little feet on the ends of their raptors. Nothing serious. But eyes seem pretty complex. But the cloudiness is already gone for the most part. I guess it'll correct itself next molt.

Do eye injuries tend to correct themselves after a molt or two? My L4 chinese mantis has a very slight dent in her right eye. The eye is slightly cloudy and dark, but she sees fine and is acting as normal as ever. The dent is very small and there isn't any fluid leaking out or anything of the...

my wax worms just cocooned themselves too! Very excited!

Sounds like he ate a sick grasshopper. I've heard of some bad crickets from pet stores causing peoples mantises to get sick and die. Could be that your mantis ate a grasshopper that got some nasty pesticides on it.

gocha gocha, and yeah I have noticed they can interfere with moulting. One of my mantises molted from the ceiling and when she hung from her old skin to dry she ended up hitting the branch and falling off. Thankfully there weren't any injuries.

hah never thought of that...I may have to try this out actually. Sounds like a perfect idea. I'm currently using a generic critter carrier with a plastic ventillated top, the cage is only about 8-9 inches tall. That is true, yet I've only fed my mantis a few flying moths in her lifetime. Still...

So I've got a single chinese mantis right now L4. She ONLY hangs from the top of her cage. I've only seen her come down when I drop a cricket in, but when shes just chilling out she'll hang from the top of the cage and walk around as she pleases. I've tried branches, live plants, woody vines...

Even though they are just insects. I think deep down there is some sort of primal feeling that animals have when they know something kind is being done for them. They communicate it in all sorts of ways. You can definitely look into the eyes of an animal and know they are thankful for all that...

I always thought green = female and brown = male for chinese mantids?

I always feed them if I can find a quick snack nearby. The ones I've seen outside usually seem to be on the thin side so I help put some food in their bellies!

So I see a lot of pictures of maggots in what look like plastic bins. I just ordered some blue bottles and they came in a little plastic salad dressing sauce cup like you get alongside your salad in a restaurant. They're all just crammed in there. I have them in the refrigerator to slow them...

I used to do this same trick with my parakeets to get them to sit on my finger. But with mantises, anytime I'm trying to show them insect squirming in my fingers, they instead prefer to just climb onto my hand and move up my arm lol. My mantids aren't really well behaved!