A mantids death?

[Krissim Klaw]

@ Laura- Yep, I'm still lurking around with my mantises. XD

@Phil- Its hard to say. Nature can be so unpredictable. On one hand you would expect they would have evolved well to fit their natural environments, but on the other hand the environment is always changing. It seems like it would be hard to gauge how often mismolts occur because I doubt such a mantis would last long before something gobbles it up. And what do you mean you don't play with your fish? I love playing with fish, probably why I am so drawn to Bettas. Sure you don't want to take them out but they always seem to enjoy company and are a curious bunch.

I do feel some mantis species tend to be better suited for handling than others. I've always been drawn to the species that are highly active and tend to roam a lot versus the species that prefer to remain hidden away behind their twigs and often won't be tempted down from their perch even for some tasty food. Its hard for me to say they look stressed when they are perched on their tip toes trying to reach out to my hand or face. Of course then again I probably stress them out with my teasing as I will remain just out of reach inching ever back while they keep trying to creep forward. :tt2:

I guess you could say I've always been a very hands on type of gal. It is one of the reasons I've been struggling to resist getting a tarantula. I think I would be way too hands on for them.

 

[sporeworld]

Ha, ha! I can totally see someone just staring at their flopping fish on a desk, saying "Jump! Jump!".

 

[GreenOasis]

If you have a sentimental attachment to your beloved Chinese...you could mount her! (In a display, you pervs!) It's pretty easy to do, not very expensive, and you'll have her to look at for a looooooong time!

(I plan to be mummified so that my children can put ME in a corner! ...talk about irony, eh?) :lol:

-Carey Kurtz-

 

[dgerndt]

If you have a sentimental attachment to your beloved Chinese...you could mount her! (In a display, you pervs!) It's pretty easy to do, not very expensive, and you'll have her to look at for a looooooong time!

How do you perserve a dead mantis? My poor Chinese, Manny, is getting old. ): I'm not sure what I want to do when she goes. I don't want to feed her to anything! She's my little sweetie.

 

[mantisboy]

I just put the last of my fertile female Euros in the freezer this morning. I thought she was going to die weeks ago and much to my surprise she lingered on. I thought for sure that she was going to die on Monday morning. I even took her upstairs and placed on her on a towel to feel the warmth of the morning sun. To my surprise she laid an Ooth right on the towel....what a champ! But this morning she could no longer hold onto to any branches in her housing and kept falling onto her back. I took her out of her housing, held her for awhile, then placed her into a jar which I placed in the freezer. I can't say that I was emotionally moved by event, her life cycle was over...it was time.

My kids want to bury her in the garden next to one of our other passed mantids tomorrow after school. I think that's kinda of cute and endearing.

I'm now down to 1 last female who is infertile, a late bloomer I had no males to mate with her. I have now purchased crickets for the first time as temps have hit 30's. I make them a a mix of crushed Wheaties and Iams along with a chunk of banana. I now have 11 Ooths so spring ought to be pretty interesting.

 

[MrPitseleh]

So why is it people are always putting mantids in the freezer just before they die? :huh: I would picture it being a worse death by quite a bit than to just passing away as an old mantis.

 

[PhilinYuma]

He was a nymph raised in the Old Rite and so we gave him a requiem mass:

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Rquiasat in pace

Ite missa est

Good night sweet nymph, and flights of mantids sing thee to thy rest

And then we heard a mighty rushing sound. Was it the beating of the mighty wings of the Great Mantis Goddess (BbHN), coming for to carry him home?

No. Just the toilet being flushed.

 

[sporeworld]

Ha!

I put them in the freezer, becuase the slow death takes days, sometimes weeks. And in the wild, I have to think he'd have come to a violent end much sooner. I can see from other posts that once I get a little less sentimental, I'll just regularly cut and feed them to others - circle of life stuff. I'm not quiiiiite there just yet...

Mark

 

[mantisboy]

This time of year I freeze them for that exact reason Sporeworld, death can take days. So looking at a mantid...lying on it's back for days isn't exactly what I consider to be enjoyable. Now earlier in the year I just tossed them in the garden right before they were going to become fully immobile and die, allowing the birds to eat them. Not to mention my kids have become attached to some of the mantids so telling them, "I cut up, smashed, tossed out, flushed, fed to, or threw out" one of their pets isn't exactly going to earn me any good parenting points.

 

[sporeworld]

Nice.

Yeah, my staff have some level of attachment (dismal though it may be) and get wierded out that I freeze them. But when I mention tossing them out for the birds, they agree it's better. I know I'd prefer it (especially if I were an endotherm).

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

It usually goes out to the chickens. But hanging up an adult ghost mantis (After one of my 4 expire) would be pretty cool, since their so nice to look at. Just not sure how to do that.

 

[lion]

Can I spraypaint mine so he looks like a statue?

 

[dgerndt]

Can I spraypaint mine so he looks like a statue?

After your mantis dies, I guess you could.