can any 1 ID this guy...

[rwpatton]

so i was coming out of work last night.. and was talking to a buddy of mine, and as he went to get in his truck this little guy was hanging out on his hood and freaking my buddy out... apon further inspection i saw it was a Mantid, and had to grab the sucker .... so he is now in my critter tote and got food to eat, ... plan is for a temp home in a 14 gal Tall aquarium (former fish tank) until i can get a decent vivarium setup going...

my buddy was just gonna kill it, and there really wasnt a place in the parking lot to release it .. so it came home with me...

can someone help ID this guy ?

i got him a flex branch and some fakes leaves real quick so he wouldnt be in a bare tote, also hes been munching on some flightless fruit flies..

 

[agent A]

mantis religiosa

 

[sueb4653]

looks like a male to me long and skinny

 

[brancsikia339]

mantis religiosa male adult

 

[rwpatton]

thanks guys, ...

any tips for keeping this lil dude....

 

[sinensispsyched]

Put him in a container with plenty of climbing surfaces and plenty of room. Since he is a male, he will be able to fly EXTREMELY well, so keep him in an enclosure where he will have enough space to do so. However, I would also recommend that you have a smaller enclosure for feeding (your present container is pretty good) since mantids are mostly ambush predators.

 

[MandellaMandy123]

Yep, he's definitely a male M Religiosa. In fact, I'm looking at mine right now. He's out on a plant.

They don't do very well in captivity generally, but I've managed to tame mine pretty well. Also, adult males of this species don't eat a lot, but need a lot of water misted in their enclosure to drink. Be careful never to let him outside, or he may fly away

 

[rwpatton]

So back to topic of water misting... just get a spray bottle and misy in it ... so he can drink or do i put a dish ornlid down with waterer...

 

[rwpatton]

Seeing as he is a full grown male im thinking of releasing him in the wild in the bushes near my house...

 

[brancsikia339]

HE WILL FLY!!!! KEEP HIM VERY ENCLOSED! cant stress that enough. He shouldn't eat that much, so feed him occasionally

 

[Domanating]

Also, adult males of this species don't eat a lot, but need a lot of water misted in their enclosure to drink.

Adult Mantis Religiosa rarely need to drink. From my personal experience from L4/L5 stages to adult they almost completely stop drinking. Only when Winter approaches and food starts becoming scarce the adults start to drink a lot. My adult enclosures are kept dry until food starts becoming harder to find.

 

[rwpatton]

are they safe to keep outside, on a patio, where theyre open to the elements ?... cause i have enough wood and plywood and screen mesh (the holes are smaller than a screen door screen) that i can build a larger more spacious kind of cage, however, theres no direct sunlight, and right now the days are warm/hot and the evening/mornings are cold...and as winter approaches its going to be cold and colder .. but hey its California you never know about the winters..

 

[Crazy4mantis]

If you found him outside he will survive outside. Their lifespan seems to be shorter when they are outside (cause they naturally die when winter comes), however.

 

[brancsikia339]

if u kept him inside, he may live much longer, as in through the winter

 

[MandellaMandy123]

I've had a lot of praying mantises live through the winter I'd try to get a female though - they tend to live longer! I'm in California too and I think it's going to be a cold winter pretty soon, but you could keep him in the screened in area until then. The sunlight won't hurt him, as long as he can find places to get shade (such as behind a leaf, etc)

 

[rwpatton]

thanks for the help guys ....

looks like i might keep him and try to get one of my 10g or the 14g setup with some low light plants and soil from HomeDepot ... and get him in it he is hanging at the top of my tote for the most part, he will venture down into the bottom now and then..

he has slaughtered all the flightless fruit flies ive put in there on both days, you would think he has had a decent meal in a long time , but who knows the last time he ate...right? ....

 

[hierodula]

Dude, hes to big for fruit flies. Hes going to starve if you feed those. You need to give him crickets. I dont even think he was eating them, cause he couldnt catch them. They probably all escaped.

 

[rwpatton]

lol none escaped, im 100% sure of that .... !

ok will pick up some crickets then , lady at pet store said he was too small for them..

 

[hierodula]

Hes like an inch and a half or two inches right. The lady doesn't know what shes talking about. Medium crix will work fine for him