Feeding questions

[Litleape]

So I got some L2 nymphs in the mail and I don't know how long it has been since their last molt. I tried to feed them moths and fruit flies, thinking they may be hungry after their trip. They seem interested in the food but they are either not able to catch them or they are "batting" them away. How long should I leave them with the feeders to see if they will eat before I separate them? I don't want to leave feeders in there if they are trying to molt but I don' want them to starve either.

On that note... how can you tell if they are getting ready to molt (besides if they stop eating, since they never started eating to begin with for me)?

 

[kmsgameboy]

Batting at food is one of the top signs they your mantis is ready to molt. I would go ahead and remove any feeders and give them a good misting of water. You shouldnt worry much about them starving. Mantids can go for about a week without eating.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Ditto, they are going to molt and want the flies away from them.

 

[FGREEN1]

My daughter's budwing mantis is a female instar 4, she normally eats baby cockroaches, I gave her a D. Hydei fruit fly for a change up from the same old same old once in a while, and the next day late in the evening she was fed a small roach (1/3 her size), the mantis took, one or two chomps, dropped her prey and fell from her mesh ceiling to the floor then after a few seconds recovered and climbed back up to hang as usual. The budwing didn't throw up anything, and her abdomen is still pudgy from the night before,not stretched out, I mention not to feed her till Wed or Thurs. I have never seen her fall like that, and started to get conserned. I told my daughter to feed the mantis the D. Hydei fruit flies every 3 days since they are half her size; the small roaches are no bigger than her head or a third and that can be fed to her every day, and check her abdomen; if it was thin and then it starts getting chubby, then don't feed her that day till her ab goes back to slender or close to being slender. I reminded her she still is small, not an adult yet. I timed her from her last molt which was July 30 and she is due for another molt between the 13th and the 16th of August. I look at her to see if there is any tell tale signs; like her abdomen gets a little lighter, bats food away and then runs away, stays in one spot for hours not moving; that would be two days before the actual molt.

I hope there is nothing wrong; my daughter and I became attached to the mantis (I know it sounds silly).

 

[Malti]

My daughter's budwing mantis is a female instar 4, she normally eats baby cockroaches, I gave her a D. Hydei fruit fly for a change up from the same old same old once in a while, and the next day late in the evening she was fed a small roach (1/3 her size), the mantis took, one or two chomps, dropped her prey and fell from her mesh ceiling to the floor then after a few seconds recovered and climbed back up to hang as usual. The budwing didn't throw up anything, and her abdomen is still pudgy from the night before,not stretched out, I mention not to feed her till Wed or Thurs. I have never seen her fall like that, and started to get conserned. I told my daughter to feed the mantis the D. Hydei fruit flies every 3 days since they are half her size; the small roaches are no bigger than her head or a third and that can be fed to her every day, and check her abdomen; if it was thin and then it starts getting chubby, then don't feed her that day till her ab goes back to slender or close to being slender. I reminded her she still is small, not an adult yet. I timed her from her last molt which was July 30 and she is due for another molt between the 13th and the 16th of August. I look at her to see if there is any tell tale signs; like her abdomen gets a little lighter, bats food away and then runs away, stays in one spot for hours not moving; that would be two days before the actual molt.

I hope there is nothing wrong; my daughter and I became attached to the mantis (I know it sounds silly).

I'm sorry I'm too noobish to be able to help you - having kept ghosts only a few weeks now, what I can tell you is that anyone who posts here, knows what it means to get attached to a mantis, so we're either all silly or not