Diet Change?

[kywii1]

Hey everybody! I used to have Skywalker and Toyota, my male and female Stagmomantis limbata mantids in a fishbowl and a large-ish jar, respectively, but I have recently moved them into Kritter Keepers. They used to only eat flies in their first enclosures, but have now started eating crickets. Just wondering why, although I'm happy they started eating crickets. Also, they wont eat anything from tongs. Thanks!

 

[PookaDotted]

Though crickets have been debated as to whether or not they are a good staple, it's always good to have variety in a mantids diet so the fact they are eating something new is a good thing. Perhaps they were ready to go after larger prey? Just make sure you gut load the crickets and quarantine them for a little bit if you get them from a pet store.

 

[kywii1]

Thanks for the input!

 

[Digger]

The tongs are seen as a large predator and often frighten the mantis and put her on the defense. Make sure the crix is thrashing his legs and approach the mantis very slowly from below line-of-sight eye level (so to speak). Once they realize goodies come from the giant metal thing, they'll readily take from tweezers. I use an over-sized tweezer, about 9" long (found in pet stores in the rep-feeding area).

 

[kywii1]

I'll try it. Thanks!