This summer I saw LOTS of wild mantises in our area. Usually I see none, but maybe the dry weather was good for them or something? I don't know, but in early august, i caught a nice brown Chinese mantis that had been flying around.
I gave it (him?) a nice enclosure, with branches, and plenty of bugs to eat and water and all that.
BUT, unlike my previous wild-caught pets, this one died after a couple months and I don't know why.
Maybe it was a male instead of the females I'd caught other years, but for some reason, it ate a lot less food, and flew a lot more when I let it out.
It did not eat as much as my previous mantises. Even when there was lots of prey, it would often ignore moths or spiders which should have been easy meals.
I never saw it puke anything strange, but once it did throw up that whitish powder looking stuff.
It had seemed pretty healthy though, but one day it was letharigic at the bottom of its container, and when I returned from work, it was dying unresponsive with twitching legs.
Any ideas? Did I do something wrong? or was it just bad luck?
I gave it (him?) a nice enclosure, with branches, and plenty of bugs to eat and water and all that.
BUT, unlike my previous wild-caught pets, this one died after a couple months and I don't know why.
Maybe it was a male instead of the females I'd caught other years, but for some reason, it ate a lot less food, and flew a lot more when I let it out.
It did not eat as much as my previous mantises. Even when there was lots of prey, it would often ignore moths or spiders which should have been easy meals.
I never saw it puke anything strange, but once it did throw up that whitish powder looking stuff.
It had seemed pretty healthy though, but one day it was letharigic at the bottom of its container, and when I returned from work, it was dying unresponsive with twitching legs.
Any ideas? Did I do something wrong? or was it just bad luck?
