Murph (T. sinensis) has some pretty major battle damage... she was an outside mantis we brought in right before the frost. I estimate her hatch (I bought the egg cases) at the end of April so she is 7+ months old. She's missing a middle foot and one of her raptorial claws doesn't seem to work anymore, and she gets it stuck in things sometimes. She falls quite a bit. She is still hunting, though, and can catch the crickets and blue bottles we're giving her, seemingly without too much problem, still (she falls sometimes once she's got something but she does NOT let go). She is living in a 10 gal. aquarium with cork up the sides and lots of bark and wide surfaces to try to cling to (and encourage crawling prey to go up). She wants to be on the ceiling but she can't do it. The cork surfaces have made her much happier.
Suggestions for habitat modifications for the geriatric mantis would be appreciated... and also feeding and support suggestions. I don't know how much longer she'll be able to take down prey.
Also we're not sure if we should actually handle her, since she's 'wild'... any thoughts on that? She seems to be pretty used to our hands now. If she does need hand feeding we're going to have to be able to take her out, I imagine.
Thanks in advance, we're noobs.
Suggestions for habitat modifications for the geriatric mantis would be appreciated... and also feeding and support suggestions. I don't know how much longer she'll be able to take down prey.
Also we're not sure if we should actually handle her, since she's 'wild'... any thoughts on that? She seems to be pretty used to our hands now. If she does need hand feeding we're going to have to be able to take her out, I imagine.
Thanks in advance, we're noobs.
