Help! Gave nymph too large of a fly!

[Canoodley]

My giant African mantis is either 3rd or 4th instar (not sure which) and this is my first time raising one. I ran out of fruit flies so I ordered some blue bottles to replace them. They were much larger than I expected, but she was last fed 3 days ago so I figured I'd give it a shot. She grabbed it and struggled for a while trying to keep it still but eventually decapitated it. Now I'm looking at her and this fly is way too big for her to eat on her own. How do I take it away from her? When should I take it away? Please help, I'm really concerned that she'll over eat and I have no idea how to handle this!!

Picture of fly, half eaten:

 

[MantidBro]

If she was able to catch it in her own then she should be ok. Id say, let her eat it. When shes full she will drop it. Thats just my opinion.

 

[Canoodley]

Do they stop eating when they're full or do they keep going to the point of death, like goldfish?

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Generally most mantises will stop on their own. Usually they slow down as they reach their limit and although they might hold on to it for a little while, they will eventually drop it. Sometimes a nymph that ate too much might spit up a little bit of the food later. That or routinely overfeeding can result in a higher chance of shedding problems do to the extra weight they are carrying in their abdomen. As a one time meal though I wouldn't be worried about it.

If you are really concerned however you can remove it. To get prey items back you can annoy the mantis by tickling at their abdomen, blowing on them, misting them with water, gently trying to coax the fly away, and so on. Usually they will let go without too much trouble, especially if they are already pretty stuffed.

 

[MantidBro]

Do they stop eating when they're full or do they keep going to the point of death, like goldfish?

Ive been warned that this can happen but in all my four years of owning mantids, its never happened. They stop eating when theyre stuffed. Sometimes they look like they will explode. But they are ok.

 

[Canoodley]

Thank you for the advice! She's really holding onto it, so I'll give her a little bit longer then I'll try coaxing the fly away again.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Thank you for the advice! She's really holding onto it, so I'll give her a little bit longer then I'll try coaxing the fly away again.

Yah you want to be careful not to play tug of war because you could injure her trying to yank it free. Usually if I want something back I get hold of a piece of it then keep that hand in place while tickling their abdomens. They will usually pull some/try to circle move around while trying to pull the prey with them before dropping it. I don't apply any force myself as far as trying to actually pull it away.

 

[Canoodley]

Success! Here she is being confused about where her meal went

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Always keep them guessing. =p

 

[Sticky]

I give my small mantids flies, but only if they are big enough to hold it and they will stop eating it when they are full.

 

[Ranitomeya]

I have never had a mantis eat itself to death. They'll sometimes hang onto their prey after they're at maximum capacity so that they can continue to take a few more bites as they relieve themselves, but they've always dropped the leftovers.

The bigger concern is causing an injury with a mantis that has eaten until it's completely full. An invertebrate that has eaten until it physically cannot eaten any more should not be handled because they're essentially balloons that have been blown up to the point where handling them the wrong way can cause a rupture. I would not be at all surprised if all the stories about mantises eating themselves to death were the result of handling after a good feeding or mantises that had some sort of unseen structural damage on their exoskeleton prior to the feeding. If you feed them well, you need to avoid handling them or causing them to jump or make attempts to run that may cause injury.

 

[Rick]

I'm not sure what the issue is here. Yes, the fly is a bit large for that mantis but you could pull a few legs or the wings off of the flies to reduce their struggling. The mantis will stop eating when it is ready.