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Wings often end up like this when mantises do not have somewhere to hang at the right angles for wing expansion and drying. They are also sometimes disturbed and move to a location and position that impedes their ability to fold their wings properly as they harden.

The reason they thought that bumblebees are unable to fly was because they incorrectly assumed their wings are rigid. They did not take into account that insect wings bend and twist differently on down-strokes and up-strokes and can twist and be angled. It's like trying to assume a bird can fly...

The pictures are neither zoomed in enough or clear enough to count segments. It's also difficult to count segments if they are hungry like that and their abdomens are shrunken. A view of the abdomen from the side, zoomed in and focused on the last few segments would be best for counting the...

If you look on the underside, the last sternite protrusion--the lobe coming off the middle on the underside towards the end of the abdomen--is much smaller than the previous one on the male. The female's last sternite protrusion is about as large as the one preceding it. The male has one more of...

Manduca are very high in water content and unless they're fully-grown and nearing pupation, most of their mass is their gut and its contents, so they're not the best source of food for mantises that are more accustomed to feeding on prey with more muscle and fat content than hemolymph. You can...

Please don't release non-native mantises or place their oothecae outside even if you think they might be infertile. If you do not want the oothecae or hatchlings, be responsible and put them in the freezer.

Mantises are not truly communal--all species will cannibalize if given reason and the opportunity. Some species are simply more tolerant of one another than others and less likely to prey on their own kind or attack them to get them out of their perceived territory. These tolerant species will...

I had one male and two females a while ago and unfortunately one of the females ate the male and then seemed to go mad. She started to eat her own legs and then finally grabbed her own thorax with her raptorial claws and paralyzed herself. I was left with an unmated female and I haven't seen...

When stuck in our enclosures in rather unnatural conditions, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. I've long since stopped placing paper towel into my containers unless it's hot glued so that there's no way for mantises to get trapped underneath due to several similar circumstances. Since...

I have had mantises regrow their raptorial claws. I currently have a ghost mantis male that lost both raptorial claws to the trochanter in a bad molt and they've taken two molts to become functional again. In the past, I had received a L2 Hierodula with just one arm and it regrew completely...

Aside from physical damage and venom, some wild feeders have a chance of being contaminated by a wide variety of man-made and natural chemical compounds that your mantis may not be able to deal with. Pathogens and parasites are also a concern when dealing with wild-caught food items. Feeding...

What kind of orchid are you trying to use? Most of the regularly available orchids you find available thrive when neglected by the average consumer because they hate being kept damp--many of them die because their new owners think they need to be watered more frequently than they actually need...

Did you leave uneaten feeders such as crickets or roaches in the enclosure? If she was too weak to escape or fend off opportunistic prey items, they'll easily overpower her and devour her.

Fruitflies have mouthparts made for lapping up liquids and are unable to pierce or bite. What you were seeing is unlikely to be a fruitfly. There are red mites that parasitize other invertebrates like how ticks parasitize vertebrates and that may be what you saw. Mantises do not have red blood...

I've noticed that sometimes I'll get mantises that vomit a lot and often they'll die unless kept pretty dry, warm, and kept moved into clean or disinfected containers after vomiting. I have a hunch that the issue stems from poor ventilation coupled with condensation or standing sources of water...

I ordered some mantises and was very happy with the results. Communication was excellent and he was very quick to respond. The mantises were packed very well and arrived alive and in great condition.

Yes, they'll regenerate limbs as long as there's at least the coxa remaining. It won't regenerate right away and may be a tiny nub after just one molt. It usually takes multiple molts to regenerate a limb completely.

You have to move very slowly and minimize the size of whatever is coming towards their face--this includes prey item and feeding utensils. I use needle nose tweezers and very slowly move the gooey prey bits to their mouths. They should taste it, start eating, and then grab it. Once they grab it...

I cut apart larger prey items into slender pieces and hand-fed small nymphs when my fruit fly cultures crashed. It would be feasible with a small number of hatchlings, but definitely not if you have a very large number of mouths to feed. Expect it to take a lot of patience since they'll likely...

In the future, do not mist a molting mantis directly. The surface tension of the water will prevent the mantis from being able to escape its old exoskeleton. Unfortunately, it's likely too late to do anything for it since their exoskeletons begin to harden quite quickly as they start molting...