Horny Mantis

[shorty]

Recently I found a new T. sinensis female in the wild and today I decided to try and mate her. I gave her a cricket and took out the extra male I had that hadn't got a chance to mate yet. When I put him near the female, he clamped down on the tip of my finger and wouldn't let go. It didn't hurt but I couldn't find a way to pry him off without damaging him. He then started to twist his abdomen around and attempted to mate with my finger! I shook my hand quite forcibly and he finally let go.

When I put him near the female he climbed on immediately and before he fully mounted her he tried to connect but was too far away to make the connection. He shifted position but the female kicked him off and I put him away for another try at another time. He was overeager and just couldn't get the job done.

Has anyone ever had anything like this happen before? I feel as if I've been violated.

 

[LauraMG]

You were violated by the mantis! That's funny! Made laugh out loud! :lol: Hope your finger is alright!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Happens all the time, I get angry with myself when it happens cause I know better than to pick them up with my hand, but to lazy to get the forceps.

 

[lancaster1313]

It has happened to me a few times, don't feel too bad. They don't seem to know the difference beetween a finger and a fat female when they are all worked up. Or perhaps they don't care. :lol:

 

[mantisboy]

It has happened to me a few times, don't feel too bad. They don't seem to know the difference beetween a finger and a fat female when they are all worked up. Or perhaps they don't care. :lol:

I actually had this happen a couple of weeks ago but I attributed it to fear and anxiety. One of my nameless breeder males (recently died) was unlike any of the other males. He never relaxed around humans, constantly scratched as his housing and would clamp on to anything, wrap his legs, his abdomen, and drive his head low. When they mate they don't do that with the females, they hold on with their heads high.

I went to mate him to try and kick-start one of my females, when handled he wrapped my finger. I tried to remove him manually, got a little frustrated and flicked him off my finger with great force (no damage). I quickly grabbed him off the carpet and placed in with the female. He instantly climbed onto the deer antler I use and assumed the same clamping position. At which point I was hoping the female would just eat him instead of contaminating the gene pool with this odd behavior. After an hour passed, he relaxed and mated. He died 5 days later, a subject I wrote about on another post and I must say I was not saddened at all.

Unrelated: I just mated my big girl again last night with David II, so I am 5 for 5 on surviving males.

 

[ismart]

I have also on occasion had some male mantids trying to screw my finger! I see this more with older males.

 

[lancaster1313]

It just happened to me today. I went to bring out my last and only Chinese male to introduce him to a female, and he got me, he was really going at my finger. :angry: Unfortunately, by the time I got him on a female, she was avoiding his advances. It turns out she was trying to lay an ooth, which she is laying now. When I introduced him to another girl, he was no longer in the mood. Next time I will have the female out first and open his container close by, so he will jump on her instead of me. :lol: Assuming that she is not trying to lay an ooth, of course. This is the second female that I have had lay an unfertilized ooth in a couple of days. :angry:

 

[shorty]

The male that attempted to mate with my finger finally was successful in mating with one of my females last night. I'm glad he got the job done because I don't think he's going to be around much longer. I still have one more female that needs fertilized and I'm going to let my other male, who is partly green and partly brown, mate with her. I'm hoping he'll pass on his genes for green coloration so that I might get a higher frequency of green nymphs.

 

[PeterF]

I had one curving his abdomen alone in his pre mating feeding jar this afternoon. I was like "Whoa guess you are ready to go".