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Kathlyne

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Jun 18, 2011
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Hi, I am an art teacher and live in Wisconsin. I teach a summer school class in insects to first and second graders. I ordered two Chinese mantis and today one was attacked by a cricket!

I was devastated, I feel terrible about it. The cricket was not that big, but perhaps the mantid had just molted. Trying to educate myself so we don't have another disaster. Didn't think I was going to get so attached to them!

 
sorry about your Chinese mantid, that´s why some pleople don´t like crickets and prefer flies, here I use crickets mainly, but if I see my mantids don´t eat them, I just take out the crickets.

 
If you want more, let me know. I'd be willing to send some for free for "educational" purposes. I have some really young nymphs and also some older ones. Just let me know if you could use some more.

Oh...and welcome to the forum.

 
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I can't say in all my years of doing this if I had a cricket munch on a healthy mantis. Most likely your mantis was weak for one reason or another. Welcome.

 
Thanks for the welcome and support. My family thinks I've gone off the deep end with the tales of the mantis! It is nice to be able to share with people that understand.

I do think something was wrong with her, she kept falling down. Didn't know the cricket would turn on her!

 
patrickfraser said:
If you want more, let me know. I'd be willing to send some for free for "educational" purposes. I have some really young nymphs and also some older ones. Just let me know if you could use some more.

Oh...and welcome to the forum.
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Thank you so much for the kind offer! I am going to try and see how it goes with the other two mantises. I don't want any more deaths in the family.

Hopefully I will gain some confidence!

 
Thats too bad. I have a love of all mantids but the chinese have a special place in my heart since thats the first spieces I raised. (and they are just fun to have around!) I had read that crickets can be harmful to mantids and for this reason I usualy shy away from them. For the most part I feed mine insects I find outside. (mostly moths and grasshoppers) You could possibly have the kids in your class help out by collecting bugs they find outside. Who knows it could open some new doors to teach them about other insects and the food chain. :)

 
kmsgameboy said:
Thats too bad. I have a love of all mantids but the chinese have a special place in my heart since thats the first spieces I raised. (and they are just fun to have around!) I had read that crickets can be harmful to mantids and for this reason I usualy shy away from them. For the most part I feed mine insects I find outside. (mostly moths and grasshoppers) You could possibly have the kids in your class help out by collecting bugs they find outside. Who knows it could open some new doors to teach them about other insects and the food chain. :)
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Thanks for the advice. I do have another Chinese that is doing well. I have been catching insects from outside, small moths and small flies but he doesn't

seem interested. He always goes for the cricket though. I just don't want to starve him. I'll keep trying with the outdoor insects. I am new to this, and we don't have mantids around here,

I have really enjoyed this and would like to try raising some others. But that incident with the cricket was terrible, so I just want to keep the other two healthy. The other one is a ghost mantis and he is missing the delicate feeler part of his front right arm. He is very active and eats well, but I am waiting to see if that will grow back in the next molt.

 
Artkath said:
Thanks for the advice. I do have another Chinese that is doing well. I have been catching insects from outside, small moths and small flies but he doesn't seem interested. He always goes for the cricket though. I just don't want to starve him. I'll keep trying with the outdoor insects. I am new to this, and we don't have mantids around here, I have really enjoyed this and would like to try raising some others. But that incident with the cricket was terrible, so I just want to keep the other two healthy. The other one is a ghost mantis and he is missing the delicate feeler part of his front right arm. He is very active and eats well, but I am waiting to see if that will grow back in the next molt.
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I have kept both chinese and ghost mantids. Chinese will eat just about anything that moves unless they are getting ready to molt, ghosts on the other hand tend to be a bit more picky but realy like things that fly around a lot. The missing tip of your ghost's arm should return after its next molt so try not to worry.

 

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