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 In early September I started with 4 L2 Chinese Praying Mantis nymphs. We lost 2 to disease of some kind, one at only about a month old, the other at about 4 months. The other two seem to have gotten less active over time. They both molted relatively recently into adulthood (1-2 weeks). Neither...

I have a Chinese praying mantis that molted recently into adulthood. It has had a flopped over abdomen since its last molt, which didn't seem to be effecting its behavior. When it molted last Sunday, however, its wings came out looking very strange and both its rear legs are non-functional. This...

Hi all, My assistant accidentally froze all my blue bottle fly spikes and pupae. Is this a death sentence for the pupae or can they survive this? I can't find the answer online. 

For some reason my blue bottle fly pupae have just stopped emerging. My mantids haven't eaten in days. I've ordered another shipment of spikes that won't arrive until this coming weekend. How can I feed these guys until then if none of the blue bottle flies emerge? I've had the spikes in the...

Hi all, My journey towards what feels like keeping Mantids alive rather than raising them continues. I have 3 Chinese Mantids, all at L6. The strongest one, who my son named "Bug" and my class of elementary students adores has developed an issue with vomit or diarrhea. The ceiling of his...

Hey all, I have an L6 Chinese praying mantis that is now 2 inches long. The height of my 32 oz deli cup is just shy of 6 inches. It seems like its time to change enclosures before his next molt because the container is not 3x his length. Would you agree? 

Hi all, I have 3 L5/6 Chinese mantids and I recently switched to blue bottle flies because they stopped eating fruit flies.  The problem with blue bottle flies is I can't predict when they will come out of their cocoon, therefore making sure my mantids get fed regularly has been a challenge...

I have an L4 Chinese praying mantis that just molted. In the process of molting he fell off the lid to the bottom of the enclosure. I gently pulled him out by one of the exoskeleton legs and laid him flat on the underside of the lid. There he courageously struggled out of his exoskeleton...

Hi all, I have two L4 praying mantids and one L5 praying mantis. They seem to be outgrowing the D. Hydei flies I have. What would the next logical food source be? Blue bottle flies? Thanks!

I have an L4 Chinese Praying Mantis whose behavior is making me wonder. His tarsus' seem to stick more than the other mantids I have and he seems to have a hard time walking around on the ceiling of his enclosure. I have 32oz cups from Mantis Place with the plastic lids coated in a thin papery...

Hi all, I believe mold is growing on the food at the bottom of my D. Hydei culture. Is there any chance this could adversely effect my Chinese Praying Mantids? I have another culture I bought because all the flies ran out before the new ones hatched so I can ditch it if need be. 

Hi, My name is Kyle. I am a 35 year old Montessori elementary teacher from Seattle, Washington.  I have always been fascinated by praying mantids. I had never seen one in the wild until a training session in Indiana where one was parked on a bush outside my dorm. It just sat there and seemed...