Can someone help me?

[WendiD157]

Just yesterday,I got a baby praying mantis.It's about the size of my pinkey finger from the last joint to the end.It's light green,a bit brown on the back (that may just be shadow) and has red eyes.(as far as I can tell,its eyes are very small so I can just barely tell)

Sadly,I have no idea of how to take care of a mantis.For now,I have it in a jar with some leaves inside for it to climb on,and some cheesecloth over the top so it can breath well.I've tried to find out what species it is,but I can't really tell right now because it's so small.I don't even know if it's male or female.I'll have some pictures up soon (of course,if I'm allowed to take it out to do so.)

Could someone please tell me what I'm supposed to do?I mean things like the right kind of container to keep it in,what exactly to feed it ect.

 

[bluebman52]

As long as it has ample room to move around you should be ok, but don't make it so big that it has a hard time finding its food when you feed it. Give it a spritz of water once or twice a day, to make sure the enclosure stays moist.

It sounds like its in its L2 or L3 stages, which means its big enough to handle week 1 or week 2 crickets. Mantids will eat pretty much anything thats the right size. Feed it things that are 1/2 to 3/4 its body length, though i've seen them eat things bigger than them. Mantids will only eat live food.

Make sure it has a few twigs to hang from while molting.

A lot of mantids reach 3-4 inches in length at full adulthood, so you will need to upgrade the enclosure as it gets closer to adulthood.

 

[WendiD157]

Would feeding it ants be ok?

 

[Butterfly]

Depends on how small he is. Go ahead and try, but dont put too many in the jar with him. I freaked out a baby mantis last year doing that lol. You can get a culture of fruit flies at a local Pet Co or pet people or one of those kinds of stores for 5$, he'll dig those.

 

[WendiD157]

I just measured him,he's about 1 1/2 cm.

I'll try and get some fruit flies for him.That is,if I can convince my mom to take me there to get some.(if I survive her lecture on me getting a job *sigh*)

 

[bluebman52]

Ants are not generally a good idea at this age because the mantids are vulnerable. Ants are known to be a rather hardy insect and their jaws quite strong. I would stick with fruit flies or equivalent.

 

[OGIGA]

If it's really really necessary (like your mantis will die of starvation any minute), you can feed non-live food to your mantis. I heard that canned tuna and (raw) ground beef works. Honey works too but I doubt it has protein that's necessary for growth. Is it easy to find bugs outside in your area?

 

[WendiD157]

Yeah.I could looke to pretty much any spot outside and find a bunch of ants.I'll try the tuna and beef.I don't have a good container that I can put live insects in besides the manis right now.

 

[OGIGA]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention... in order to make the mantis take food that's not live, you can either put a piece in front of the mantis and poke it with a toothpick so the mantis thinks it's something alive moving around, or you can put a piece up to the mantis' mouth so it can taste it. If it likes it, it'll start chewing on it and if it's not lazy, it'll grab it.

 

[Rick]

The smaller they are the harder they are to care for. Did you find it outside? If so I suggest releasing it and learning about mantid care BEFORE you get one. Also please introduce yourself in the introductions forum.