2 Questions - Feeding adult mantis & outdoor housing question

[Dana]

Jade is a Carolina mantis.  I think she may be getting ready to do her final molt.  She's my first ever, and I'm totally head over heels for her.  

- Typically I feed her flies that I catch on my screened porch.  That has been fine for now, but the flies seem to be a little harder to come by.  Any idea how many flies on average an adult Carolina might need to eat in a day's time?  I don't feed her but every few days typically.  She's eaten four at this stage that she's at now (not recently, though) in a day.  

- I'm concerned I won't be able to catch enough prey for her in her adult stage and I'm considering releasing her to my front yard where I have a lot of shrubbery.  A couple of things.  First, I have yet to find a mantis in the wild (a friend found her for me), so I don't really know what an ideal shrub, etc., might be, and whether what we have is sufficient for her.  Second, we do have pest control come quarterly.  He sprays around the base of the outside of the house.  Will she be okay out there in the shrubs?  I find lots of bugs out there alive and well, of course.  I could potentially put her on a tree (small tree, no idea what it is but I could find out) in my backyard away from my house if that would be better, but I'm not sure that a tree is ideal.  

Any thoughts?  Part of me hates the idea of releasing her, but at the same time I'm wondering if there are other mantids in my area, maybe they could find her and mate?  Lots of questions, I suppose.

These photos of her were taken yesterday.  I pretend she adores me.  She prefers me over her fake sunflower.  Or at least it seems that way.  That last photo is blurry but it shows her interest in me and it was right before she reached for me and made the jump to me.

 

[steeve]

She's so adorable! I love those little red accents, what a beautiful bug. I'm looking forward to adult pictures!

I don't have a solid answer for you as to how much to feed; I typically feed my guys until they look full and slow down eating but they are not yet adults. My larger mantis typically gets a few large bugs every other day--I try to balance huge meals with smaller meals. As an adult she will eat more but theres always bugs to find. If you really want to keep her you can even buy flies online, ~$5 for 100 or so to keep her fed in the winter or visit a local pet store for some roaches or mealworms. While it's warm leaving a light on can get you a large supply of tasty moths alongside your flies.

There are definitely wild mantids in your area! You just need to know where to look. Going outside at night with a flashlight and looking under leaves will yield good results, you might even be able to catch a male same age as her. Our yard mantises like to hang out in gardens, on leafy plants near flowers. They particularly liked our raspberry patch and roses, every year I find a handful of Chinese and Carolina mantises. Mostly tall grasses and things with leaves they can hang under seem to be preferred. I even find some on our grapes quite high off the ground. They can move quite easily so if you choose to release her she can find a more suitable place herself. Probably further from your house is better but that's up to you! Also if you do choose to release her she will die as soon as late fall rolls around and it starts to get cold unfortunately.

Also little side note, my wild caught Carolina never stopped eating before molting so keep a good eye on her! Maybe being wild he still assumes prey is hard to come by and it's better to eat it regardless. 

 

[Dana]

Thank you for the input!  Great news!  After watching her for about four hours (maybe more but I'm scared to admit how long...lol) yesterday, I was able to witness her final molt!  What an experience, to see the process firsthand, especially the final one.  She did great.  I felt like I was waiting for someone to give birth to a child, though, the process took so long, but now I have a MUCH better understanding of how it works and all they go through to make it happen.  It still baffles me!

You know, I haven't tried feeding her roaches yet.  They give me the heebie jeebies.  I should try to overcome that now that she's full grown and see how it goes.  I'll have to work on that!  I'm going to try to feed her for at least a week or two and see how it goes.  I really don't want to release her as she's been an excellent source of learning for me, my children (homeschooled) and other people's kids (and other adults!).

I'll get more pictures of her later today when she's had enough time to rest and dry out, etc!

 

[Ocelotbren]

You can also use a live fly trap.  I made one following this guide:



It can be good as a steady or (somewhat) reliable source if you aren't having luck catching by hand.