Feeding S. Californica

[cloud jaguar]

If you have kept S. Californica, please let me know about their eating habits. We have 3 S. Limbata females that are voracious eaters - hoppers, waxworms, flies, crickets, crane flies, anything. Also, we feed them in their enclosures or flip their lids and hand feed them right on their lids (done eating and cleaning in 10 minutes).

Recently caught a smallish female S. Californica. She appears in very good health and sprightly. No damage, no visible age deterioration. No missing parts. She is dainty and has rather huge bulgy eyes - neat looking creature - definitely looks different from S. Limbata. The thing is, she doesn't eat at all. It hasn't been long yet - 2 days. When I put prey insects in her enclosure, she rips them to shreds with her raptorial arms by striking them in a blur of attacks. She just kills them and leaves them dead. Right before our S. Limbatas oothed they eschewed food. I thought that this little S. Limbata may be just about to ooth but her abdomen, while distended up the the convertible little seam on the side, just doesnt seem as fat as the S. Limbatas. She seems healthfully plump but not bordering on fat like the S. Limbatas do right before they ooth. Generally, is this species of mantid a bit thinner than S. Limbata? When I tried to feed her by hand with forceps (which always works with S. Limbatas), she sips guts, or grasps and eats then quickly seems to loose interest and just discards the victims. This strikes me as odd since she is a female like our voracious Limbatas.

She was found on a Mexican Sage. I did a short stakeout before work and found that ONLY bees frequented the sage - oh, and an inchworm which i caught and threw in her cage. Anyways, I tried to feed her these things to no avail:

1/ live large cricket

2/ live baby cricket

2.5/ dead cricket from forceps

3/ live inchworm

4/ wax moth

5/ live bee

Nothing yet. I have noticed that our S. Limbatas did not eat the day before they oothed typically. If this one does not eat by tomorrow evening it will be 3 days. Based on your knowledge of S. Californica, what should i try to feed her and how?

~Arkanis

 

[Rick]

Same as any other mantis of same size. Mantids are opportunistic feeders. They will eat whatever comes along. If it won't eat then that is another issue.

 

[cloud jaguar]

Thanks Rick. This mantis has interesting eating habits. I offered her a cricket yesterday with forceps and had poked the dead cricket so a drop of bug juice would entice her to sup. She grabbed it and sipped for about 10 second then dropped it. All further attempts to feed were met with a flurry of blows.

Tonight I again used the forceps and gave her a live waxmoth. Surprisingly she readily took the moth but seems very dainty in her manner. Unlike the S. Limbatas which are complete and absolute garbage disposals, this one is a very dainty eater. After she ate the head and thorax of the moth she just flicked the abdomen and commenced to clean herself. Apparently she prefers to avoid guts.

I think i will remove all prey items from her enclosure and just try to hand feed her every day so she eats a bit. Her abdomen still looks plump but she really does not eat much compared to the Limbatas

 

[Rick]

Most mantids won't eat the "stomach" and its contents. They will eat around it. She sounds ready to lay an ootheca. I've seen that behavior countless times.

 

[cloud jaguar]

She sounds ready to lay an ootheca. I've seen that behavior countless times.

Rick, you are either a mantid disquised as a human or psychic! She did lay an ootheca!

 

[yeatzee]

congrats man!