feeding problems

[beachmaster]

Ok, so I live in southern ky, and I have two praying mantids that I captured recently. I have a boy and a girl, and in the future I hope to mate them, but I am starting to have issues... they both get mainly moths, big ones for Mrs Henry, and little ones for Henry. Mrs Henry also has gotten some giant crane fly type bugs, and some large spiders. Anyways, they are both having eating problems right now. They are both skimpering around their cages and ignoring their food, which is caught daily for them. For Henry, this is %100 normal... for Mrs Henry... this is bizzare.

They are both very active, and are showing no unusual or slothfull movement. Their cages get sprayed once or twice a day, and they have a sponge, which is cleaned and renewed each day.

Their cages are cleaned every day.

 

[Digger]

Hey Beach,

Your female is very fat. Either she's a bit over fed, or, is ripe with an ootheca. Non-eating with healthy mantids generally indicates they are not hungry. You do not need to feed Henry daily. If Mrs. Henry is full of eggs, she'll need to eat a bit more. When she's getting ready to lay, she'll ignore food in most cases. It also looks like you may be keeping their apartments too moist. Better than too dry, but an abundance of wet can lead to mildew and associated bad stuff. I do a light spray once per day. The droplets should evaporate off the sides of the Kritter Keeper withing an hour at the most.

 

[Lazyiks]

Hey Beach,

What digger said!! I think Mrs. Henry is super fat!! They can last weeks without being feed, i feed mine every few days depending on the size of the belly. She looks over feed or with eggs so you probably wanna lay off the feed for at least a couple of days!! Other than that, awesome looking mantis!!

 

[Lazyiks]

Oh another thing beach, I bet Mrs henry n henry will appreciate things to hang off of too, like sticks or something soft they can grip onto at the top because I dont see anything at the top of the cage for them to hang on from because glass n plastic is not ideal for them.

 

[OctoberRainne]

Definitely looks like she is ooth heavy,allow her to lay the ooth before trying breeding,or you could rush a breed but the ooth may be laid the day right after,hope that helps,and they only need to eat every few days,females will eat so long as there is food until laying ooths,so I'm certain that is what she is gearing up for

 

[Rick]

Her size is pretty normal for a gravid female. She is being restless because she is about to make an ootheca.

 

[beachmaster]

Thanks for the info! There is another female outside and I was worried because she is even fatter! She looks like she is going to burst! And it made me worry... why isn't my Mrs Henry so fat, and how is it possible the mantis outside is eating more than mine!? She eats so much!

Now im going to figure that they are just prego

I will leave the cage less moist

Thanks again!

 

[Lazyiks]

Im jealous.. I wish I can walk outside and find mantis hanging out!!