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  1. P

    Snipping a leg

    It would be impossible to know for sure if they feel "pain" in the same way we do. Cetainly they react to stimulii that would cause pain in humans or mammals. I hope that insects don't feel pain, though, because that means that crickets and fruit flies feel the praying mantis eat them alive...
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    Eye Spots

    I think it just happens when they are very old and starting to die off piece by piece. It might hurt their vision a little, but since they have compound eyes all they see is movement, not images, and they might be able to compensate for some obstruction.
  3. P

    Locust Legs

    I think a mantid knows what it can handle. If the locust starts hurting it, it will drop the locust. I can't speak for all locations, but I know that in this area the wild mantises eat practically nothing except locusts, and in the wild the locusts all have legs.
  4. P

    Defecating as a defense mechanism?

    Some insects do that, so either that's what the mantid was doing, or else it was so excited by being caught that everything came out before it would have.
  5. P

    What about feeding lady bugs?

    Locusts and grashoppers are the same thing. Grashoppers are the solitary form. When some species of grashoppers become overpopulated, they go through a metamorphosis and become "gregarious," meaning they start to swarm and will migrate together, probably so that they don't starve to death when...
  6. P

    What about feeding lady bugs?

    Many insects defecate when they are threatened, to scare of predators. Grasshopers and locusts will vomit if you catch them.
  7. P

    From Boulder, Colorado

    Maybe soon, but I'll start with easy ones and work my way up. I've heard that M. religiosa eggs need to be kept cold for a few months (a simulated winter) then warmed before they'll hatch... how about Chinese mantids? Can I get an egg sac that I don't have to wait until spring for?
  8. P

    Do aqaurims make good cages?

    Yes but make sure there are sticks, branches or something to hang upside-down from.
  9. P

    Water?

    That's what I thought; although I've never misted a praying mantis either. I figure if they live in the wild here, the air outside is probably drier than the air in the house anyway.
  10. P

    Molting Failure Sequel

    maybe next time try "snipping" the old skin rather than the legs... I once had one keep a few chunks of old skin on it after its final molt. They hung around for most of its life, and didn't get in the way of anything. If it had been an earlier molt, those chunks probably would have come off...
  11. P

    mismatched parts?? (part 2)

    They are really delicate right after they shed their skin because the exoskeleton underneath is still soft and waxy. That's the worst time to try to handle them.
  12. P

    Plant

    A praying mantis will usually try to get to the highest place so that it can find something to hang upside-down from. It might stay on the plant because it would have to crawl all the way down to get off of it, which is against its nature. But don't try to put it on a vine plant hanging over a...
  13. P

    Water?

    I see a lot of advice here about how to give mantids water, but I've been raising mantids for a long time and have never, ever, ever gotten them to accept water. In fact, when I give them really juicy insects like caterpillars, they leak the excess water out of their backsides or their mouths...
  14. P

    What about feeding lady bugs?

    Ladybugs are beneficial insects and it's such a shame to kill them off like that. I fed a mantis a ladybug once when I was desperate, and it wasn't eaten for several days. One special defense ladybugs have is that they play dead when threatened, which is exactly the defense that will stop a...
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    From Boulder, Colorado

    To introduce myself... I'm in Boulder, Colorado. I used to catch and raise praying mantids as a kid (M. religiosa) and bring them to school. I don't think I've ever come across anything but the European variety here, but I've found S. carolina on trips in New Mexico and California. After a...
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