Brand new to mantids!

[Zeede]

I live in a suburb outside Los Angeles, and this past weekend we found a praying mantis in the backyard! I promptly brought it inside and then got a little plastic enclosure to put it in.

It is a female, and in her adult stage, as she definitely has wings. The plus side is I don't have to go buy a larger enclosure (the 3x her length from top to bottom rule), but that also means she probably won't last more than a couple of months. I think she's a California mantis, as she is green and about 3" long.

She's awesome, such a cool bug!

As she has just a few months left, I want to make her comfortable, so I have two questions:

1) I have tried to moths outside, but to no avail, so for now her diet is going to be PetSmart crickets. I heard mealworms aren't as good, or that you have to dangle them in front of them, but at any rate, I don't have the time to devote to raising feeder bugs.

How many crickets per feeding, and how many feedings per week?

2) Water. It's very dry in SoCal, so do I really need to mist the enclosure every other day?

Thanks in advance,

Cameron

 

[hibiscusmile]

Hey welcome and she still will need something a little bigger to live in, or how bout a house plant by a window would be fine, she will probably stay there if you feed her there. she needs water a spraying every day or let her drink off your finger. You can offer her all her meals, with tweezers, she is not eating cause she is either not happy with the confinment or getting ready to lay an ooth. Let mus know what u decide. :tt2:

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Make sure you keep those crickets clean and well fed, petsmart cricks are quite nasty and full of bacteria.

 

[Seattle79]

Welcome to the Forum. Keep one cricket in the encloser at a time with her, they tend to eat other insects when hungry. Put some food in the encloser for the cricket.

 

[LauraMG]

Welcome welcome!

 

[Zeede]

She's eating quite voraciously. I put two crickets in on Sunday when we found her, and she ate them both up rapidly. I then gave her three more the next day, and she didn't eat the last one until last night, so, lesson learned about putting in too many at once.

I've noticed the plastic sides don't give her any grip. I watched her stalk the last two crickets, and she would creep closer, with her hind legs securely anchored from the plastic "mesh" top, but with the rest of her legs constantly scrabbling to find purchase on the plastic walls. It was kind of sad, actually.

Again, how often should I feed her? Twice a week? Every other day?

Cameron

 

[GreenOasis]

Minimum would probably be a couple of crix every other day, but, I would offer one good-sized one a day. The occasional swatted fly on the end of tweezers would probably make her pretty happy too! Definitely keep a piece of dog food or breakfast cereal or something in there for the crix, though or they WILL try to eat your mantis! (And yes, mist the cage, just a little, each evening.)

OH, and WELCOME! PICS, PICS!?

-Carey Kurtz-

 

[Zeede]

I will try and snap some pics tonight, when I clean her poop out.

I was leaving a small leaf of cabbage in for the cricket, but I wasn't sure if it really ate any of it or not. If it's cereal it wants though, I've got lots of that around.

No dry dog food, sadly, as we gave away our dog last year.

I've tried to find some flying insects, but it has been cold (for California), so there tend to be very few flying bugs out in the open this time of year.

Cameron

 

[Jesskb]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Welcome

 

[hibiscusmile]

I like to glue fake leaves and some real twigs in their houses and that is great for them to hang onto when moving around their home. Females need to eat each day and some water too.

 

[Zeede]

Thanks for all the welcomes!

I have been misting her enclosure daily. Should I leave a tiny water bowl or should the moisture from crickets and daily misting be enough?

Cameron

 

[MrPitseleh]

Thanks for all the welcomes!

I have been misting her enclosure daily. Should I leave a tiny water bowl or should the moisture from crickets and daily misting be enough?

Cameron

I put a tiny bowl of water in with my mantids and half of it is filled with little pebbles then I mist once a day right before I go to bed. I'm not sure if I really need to put it in there but I like to anyway I guess it depends on how ventilated the Enclosure is.

 

[LauraMG]

Mantids won't drink from standing water. In fact, in my experience, it can be dangerous for them. I've lost some little nymphs in large water droplets before...more than once.... :blush: It's best to have some substrate, whether that's a paper towel or something more like moss or coconut fiber, and mist once daily.

 

[MrPitseleh]

Mantids won't drink from standing water. In fact, in my experience, it can be dangerous for them. I've lost some little nymphs in large water droplets before...more than once.... :blush: It's best to have some substrate, whether that's a paper towel or something more like moss or coconut fiber, and mist once daily.

The bowls I put in there are for helping with humidity not for drinking and I keep it half filled with pebbles so it's not big Enough for grown mantids to drown in, unless they were trying to. :lol: I'm glad you posted that about the nymphs, I'll have to change stuff around when I get some.

 

[LauraMG]

The bowls I put in there are for helping with humidity not for drinking and I keep it half filled with pebbles so it's not big Enough for grown mantids to drown in, unless they were trying to. :lol: I'm glad you posted that about the nymphs, I'll have to change stuff around when I get some.

Substrate is, in my experience, an easier way to hold humidity. I'm glad to share though, because it was by bad experience that I learned!

 

[Zeede]

An update! She has laid an ooth! It was really interesting watching her pump it out (and neat to see the striped pattern it has).

Now I've read a lot about ooth care, moisture and humidity and all that, but it's quite dry in Southern California naturally. It is more dry inside, since the heater runs occasionally, but I gather that the eggs will likely hatch pretty well on their own so long as I give the enclosure a spray now and again.

Any idea how soon it will be before the eggs hatch?

Cameron

 

[GreenOasis]

Couple months, at least.

You should take a pic of her & her ooth...that would be the best way to identify the species and get a better idea for ooth care. She may be a Stagmomantis limbata or an Iris oratoria...given your location.

 

[Zeede]

Thanks, I will try and take a pic, but my cell phone's camera is woefully inadequate. My wife is visiting her parents, else I'd have access to a proper camera.

Cameron