Hyperactive flower mantis

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Misako

Misako

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Hello everyone!

I have an adult male spiny flower mantis, and recently I changed his enclosure. Placed netting on the glass, since the poor guy was always slipping and falling. So now he can crawl freely.

But now since, he has started to show some rather odd behaivor. He's very hyperactive, running around, trying to crawl underneath sticks and clawing at the ventilation holes. I think he tried opening the sliding window before, I heard it slide haha.

I really wonder what's up with the guy. Aren't they supposed to be calmer? He used to be. The humidity seems fine but, could it be too hot for him? The sun is shining on his glass enclosure for quite a bit of the day. But I thought they were fine with 30 degrees celcius!

At the evening sometimes I would turn his little lamp on(not a heating lamp), but then he'd start chasing the shadow's edge. Running in circles. (Kind of funny but I felt bad for him! XD)

Yeah so. Should I be worried, or do I just have a hyperactive mantis on my hands?

*EDIT*

As I just put in a nice housefly for him to catch, he actually went after it. I really thought it was a waiting species! Cool to watch, though. He doesn't seem to have a skinny hind body, though, so I doubt he was extremely hungry. Maybe just extremely.. Hyper.

 
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i think he is to hot and trying to find a place from the heat, mine are at room temp and are fine, please move him and give him a drink every day.

 
You're roasting the poor guy.

I once found a mantis and put it into a small jar temporarily until i had the real enclosure ready. I put the jar in a place i thought the sun wouldn't go. I was wrong and left the poor guy in the backing heat of a 35ºC day plus the sun and the small glass enclosure that was the jar, during 3 hours! I rushed to see how the matid was, alive but really really hot.

I now easily identify when mantids are hot, they keep moving they're jaws like if they were eating or cleaning themselves. The poor guy could barely walk. I quickly filled a glass of cold water and literally spilled the entire glass over him. He didn't jump, didn't start any aggressive behavior or whatsoever, he just started, drinking, a lot! both me and the mantid felt really relieved at that time lol. B)

 
Its normaly not a good idea to keep any animal that lives in a glass or plastic enclosure in direct sunlight be it a fish, mantis, turtle, etc. Its just like being trapped inside a car sitting in the sun on a hot day. It doesnt take long for the sun to heat the insides of anything thats closed up.

 
kmsgameboy said:
Its normaly not a good idea to keep any animal that lives in a glass or plastic enclosure in direct sunlight be it a fish, mantis, turtle, etc. Its just like being trapped inside a car sitting in the sun on a hot day. It doesnt take long for the sun to heat the insides of anything thats closed up.
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excellent advice! sun heat magnifies in glass and stays trapped to the point of 110-120 or higher, you can cook a egg in those conditions, so dont do it bro... mabe a hour or 2 at most per day. ;)

 
hibiscusmile said:
Sorry but an hour or two may as well be all day.
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Agreed. An hour or two can be more than enough time to kill some animals when left in a car in the summer heat and while I realize we are talking about a mantis enclosure and not a car its the same thing really. Heat builds up quickly inside any kind of glass or plastic enclosure, thats why green houses are made of glass or plastic. I think the easy way to fix things would be either to move the mantis to another window or draw the blinds at that window (if you have any) so that only filtered light enters the enclosure.
 
Alright! Thank you for the tips! It mostly seems to happen before I feed him though, and after that he calms down, so it's all quite fine! We had rain all day today, so no sun for the boy. And it still seems he gets all movey when I come home. But calmer than before, so it could've been the sun anyway! I wouldn't roast him though, I check the temperature constantly! I do have the blinds down most of the day, I'll pay extra attention to it.

But thank you for your time :)

 
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I was reading in Keeping Aliens that when your mantids are running around a lot like yours is that it can help to let them out of their cage for a bit. Maybe you can try letting it out for an hour or so every day.

 
I'd love to get that book someday. And I would also love to take the little bugger out more! But he really loathes my fingers. XD Usually I get him out after being really patient and encouraging him a little, but at some days he just turns around and takes a run for it. But I know he loves it when he's out, gosh. Stubborn thing he is. I also really hate the idea of possibily stressing him, so perhaps I am just too gentle about it. I tend to just let him in his enclosure after trying to get him out, and his reaction being "NOOOO!"

Is there a good way of getting a mantis over the "fear of fingers", except just being very patient? I do have to say his enclosure is NOT the handiest when it comes to taking him out. (It has sliding doors on the front, generally not a lot of room for my hand)

But yeah, I do think that may be it. I'd be nice for him to be able to stretch his wings a little too. (I have cats, though, surely not letting him out when a cat is in my room! o___o)

 
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Sometimes I just will leave my enclosures open for a few hours. This lets the tank get some extra fresh air but also give my mantises the chance to climb out and stretch their legs a bit. Most of the time they just will perch at the top of the tank and just look around but still Im sure its nice to see the world beyond the lid. :p If your mantis liked to sit on a silk plant or a twig you could try just removing the whole thing with the mantis on it. Thats what I have done any time Ive had a mantis who wont walk onto my hand.

 
I was going to say he is hot for love but in direct sunlight he might have just been hot.

Adult male mantises pretty much have one thing on their tiny bug brains and that is finding pretty lady mantises. Many can get the urge to roam in search of that special someone, or if they are lucky, someones.

 

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