Is this Mantis too Stupid to live?

[Graz73]

I've been raising another wild caught Chinese mantis.

Someone at my office found her very weak and laying on the concrete.

I've fed her lots of grasshoppers and she is doing much better...

BUT, over the past week, it has gotten cold and snowy in Ohio and all I've been able to find her are tiny spiders.

the other day she grabbed one of those by a leg and was eating it. I came back a minute later and saw her trying to eat her own claw?! She had one pincer in the grip of the other one and was chewing through the top of her wrist armor. I think she must have thought she'd caught a bug?

I used a little stick and pulled her arm free. She stopped wanting to eat it after that and went back to normal. but now the top of her arm has a black hole in it!

The next day, she caught another spider and ate it, but she also caught part of the napkin that I am using for a substrate layer in her container. She then tried to eat the napkin. I watched as she chewed and chewed the paper and finally spit it out... ONLY TO TAKE ANOTHER BITE!

After that I assumed she must just be really hungry so I got her more spiders, and today I'll buy her some crickets...

 

[brancsikia339]

She may have been bitten by the spider. As for the napkin, she could've thought she was grabbing an insect and the part she spit out was the wing.

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Adult female Chinese will eat they're own weight in food per week, shes starving.

 

[Digger]

Lou - if you've got a good pet store, or chain pet store nearby, call to see if they stock feeder crickets. Get your mantis those and try two per day.

 

[Graz73]

I bought some Crickets today. Hopefully she can still eat them with one good arm!

 

[Sticky]

How is she doing? Is she happy eating the crickets?

 

[Reptiliatus]

Is she a nymph?

If she is an adult specimen, by this time of the year it would make sense for her health to be going downhill. She has likely already laid a few oothecae and is aging rapidly.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[Mvalenz]

I don't feed my mantids spiders. Spiders are predatory insects that can pack a nasty bite. She may have been bitten. My mantids eat napkin occasionally when they pin a feeder to the ground. It is also November now, so she should be starting to break down.

 

[RocknessMonster]

I wouldn't say stupid, she's just hungry and misjudging things.