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I've had some giants but the African was really scary. When she walked on my her arms dug into my skin like they were needles. She was really heavy too. The Violin wasn't much smaller but she hardly weighed anything. My Timor Shield was notorious. One night I was woken by a really loud banging...

I'll try and post some photos sometime. It's just so dark in the UK right now. Minor updates: the Papua is still not catching prey. I fed him some fishpaste. He spent ~45 minutes eating. Either he doesn't remember how to catch prey or his arms aren't still 100%. The Twig is absolutely amazing...

I had one in my mystery box. She's always the first to catch prey, and is growing at an amazing speed. I'm hoping she stays green. The last one turned into a grey adult.

I had a green giant Asian that turned grey. For anyone else reading this, you can hand feed a mantis on fishpaste or any kind of meat/fish. I successfully got my mangled mantis through another moult doing this. The hardest thing is pursuading them that its food.

Thought I'd share my mantis mystery box. I chose an intermediate/advanced box. In no particular order: 1. Phasmomantis sp (maybe a Mexican mantis). Not had one of these before. 2. Blepharopsis mendica (Thistle). Not had one of these before either. 3. Hierodula "Papua". I'll be totally...

Happy update: a successful moult after 24 days. Arms look good - he's using them when walking. I put some flies in his house to see if he's interested. I'm now thinking it's a male. A female would probably be more bothered about food. But I've been wrong before. I'm not even sure he's a Papua...

Welcome. I'm also UK based. I was kind of disappointed I didn't get an orchid in my latest mystery box. But the 8 new mantises were all awesome. My last orchid turned into a much bigger adult than I expected.

Thanks - my big guy is still hanging on, almost 3 weeks after the bad moult. I feed him a little fishpaste every day. It's easier to feed him now he's started living on the lid rather than a plastic tree.

Greetings from a fellow Brit. I'm so sad we don't have native mantises here. I've visited Japan many times. On one occasion I remember going to somewhere on the Chuo line. I think it was to Mount Takao. Anyway, I was petrified because the entire town seemed to be encased in gigantic cobwebs. I...

Hi all. Just joined here. I've been keeping mantises for a couple of years now and I think my latest mystery box takes me up to 20 mantises in total. Anyway, I was overjoyed to find I'd been sent a Hierodula "Papua" in the latest box. But it quickly turned into heartbreak. She (assuming it's a...