Hello Everyone,
I’m a first time mantid mom. My name is Angela and I’m from California and we live close to Yosemite. Originally, I’m from the Philippines and I used to catch a mantis when I was a little girl but I was afraid to hold them until now. I’ve lived in California for over 40 years and I’ve never saw a mantis till last summer. I believe this is a Stagmomantis limbata (see photo). This is the very first mantis I saw in the U.S.A. and I was fascinated. She was about 3 inches long. I thought I wanted to keep her but I was afraid to touch her so I let her be. She stayed in the greenhouse for 3-days and then she was gone. After 2-weeks she came back and I thought I wanted to keep her but still I was afraid to touch her. I mean after seeing a mantis ate a lizard I thought they’d be ferocious to be touched. Anyway she stayed for 3-days she was gone again and never came back. I’ve wished she could’ve stayed longer.
After this, I’ve found a male mantis with a broken wing resting on my ampalaya plant. I put him in a tupperware with a stick and took him in the house. For the first time I touch him & let him crawl on my hand and I freaked out. So I put him back in the tupperware. And then that’s when I began to start creating terrarium for him. First terrarium I created for him was a bioactive minus the isopods and springtails. He lived in there for like 2 weeks then died. After him, I’ve caught 3 more male mantis and two died after 3-7 days and one I let him go in the greenhouse and he disappeared.
I was praying for the female mantis to come back but she never did. I felt sad. So I decided to buy 2-mantises: Ghost Mantis & Giant Asian Mantis. I heard these two mantises are great for beginners but unfortunately my L3 Ghost Mantis died. I thought I did everything. I fed her 2-3x/week, mist her enclosure once a day, kept her around 70 degree, humidity of 40%-60% and on her last day she drink water on my hand. I only used purified water. I felt so heartbroken when she passed away. Never thought a little insect could make me feel this way but she was the friendliest who always come to my finger when I laid my hand. She had a robust appetite. She was even trying to catch a fruit fly in her last day but couldn’t grab it because of lost strength.
Anyway, I bought a Giant Asian Mantis coz I thought she resembles the Stagmomantis that landed in my greenhouse. My Giant Asian is a little shy but very calm when I put her on my hand. After a few days, my husband brought me a delicup with a young mantis in there, he caught her in my neighbor’s front yard and it’s also a young female Stagmomantis. Wow! I thought I prayed for that 1st female mantis to come back and God gave me this young nymph. I was thankful. And so now I end up keeping this young nymph and she’s now living in an 8x8x12 ExoTerra terrarium. The Giant Asian is in the 12x12x18 terrarium. I took them out of their terrarium when I feed them so they can find their food. And now I’m waiting for another mantis—Giant Shield Mantis—Rhombodera Kirbyi. I thought I’d stay away from real tiny nymph like the Ghost Mantis and stick with the Giant ones. So this is the story on how I got hooked on keeping a mantis for a pet.
