Dying cricket/feeding dilemma

[Bathory]

Hi everyone! So I'm very new here, last week I got a hierodula majuscula, possibly L3-L4. She's doing great, always eats when fed and looks healthy. When I got her I also got some crickets for the first two weeks at the same place where they only sell reptile/insect related items and I trust that their feeders are good quality. I just fed my girl a small ish cricket but I noticed a teeny tiny cricket in my feeder enclosure just now, it's barely moving and I'm pretty sure it's dying. The only other cricket I have left is a tad too big for the mantis right now so I'm wondering, do I toss the dying small cricket or do I just give it to her now? What would you do?

 

[Sarah K]

I wouldn't do it. A lot of the very same stuff that can kill a cricket can also kill a mantis.

 

[rantology]

Definitely don't feed dying or sickly looking crickets. If you want to be extra safe keep the crickets for a few days of quarantine before feeding to any of your critters- many years ago I had bought a batch of crickets from petsmart for my leopard gecko and within ~2 days the entire batch of crickets died. My gecko got very sick and died in the weeks to come... it was a hard lesson Not saying that will happen to you, but it never hurts to be on the safe side.

 

[Bathory]

Great, I thought I might be overly worried but I'm glad you guys share my opinion. Now to the big guy, would a mantis eat pre killed or is there anything I could do to lessen the risk of feeding her with a big cricket? I'm gonna get a new batch of feeders soon but it feels like a waste not using the big juicy one I already have. I was thinking wait maybe two-three days, cool the cricket down so it's sluggish or crush the head, then feed?

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

Try feeding the mantis the cricket. Let the cricket crawl infront of her. If she can take it down she’ll go for it. If not just cut the cricket in half and where the juices are just put it up to the mantises mouth with tweezers. The mantis will taste it and grab on.

 

[Connor]

Try feeding the mantis the cricket. Let the cricket crawl infront of her. If she can take it down she’ll go for it. If not just cut the cricket in half and where the juices are just put it up to the mantises mouth with tweezers. The mantis will taste it and grab on.

Agreed 

 

[Ocelotbren]

Yep and you can also just remove the back legs if you want to try with it alive first, to make it less mobile and intimidating and easier to catch.

 

[Bathory]

Turns out the dying cricket wasn't dying, it was getting ready to molt.. I tossed it in a bag with some other trash because I thought it was stone dead but yesterday I had to catch it in the bathroom lol

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

Haha

i have a leopard gecko and sometimes crickets escape and I  hear chirping around my house at night.