L3 Ghost has been unusually close to the bottom of enclousure

ChitandChat · Oct 23, 2020

Greetings, I'm probably being excessively paranoid so apologies if that happens to be the case. Since yesterday my Ghost mantis has been hanging close to the ground. His current enclosure is a 32oz deli cup with a inch-thick layer of coco-fiber substrate, a hygrometer, and a stick close to the center that's nearly perpendicular. He's usually near the top of the cup (either hanging from the ceiling or on the walls) which, from what I read, is typical for a ghost mantis. So him suddenly sitting pretty close to the ground on the stick is a bit concerning. His diet has consisted of 3-5 d. hydei fruit flies every other day although I have just ordered some house flies as my culture seems to have died out. I lightly mist his cup once a day and try to maintain a humidity of 80%-90%. I've considered that he might be molting soon since he's reaching the timeline for his L4 molt (which I read is less than 3 weeks) however I don't recall this sort of behavior being described. Hopefully I'm just fretting over nothing and he's just being him.

ChitandChat · Oct 23, 2020

Update: While trying to get a better look at him to see if he had any sign of paleness that would indicate an incoming molt I shined a flashlight on him. This lead to him suddenly turning and moving up a bit. He stayed there for a bit before suddenly trying to reach for the wall and ceiling which were a bit out of his reach. I decided to do a makeshift feeder test using the thin end of my feeding forceps and placing it close to him. He lashed out at it only once, although in retrospect it was a bit foolish considering I can't tell if he was trying to push away or to catch. Since then I've decided to stop disturbing and just observe him. For quite a bit he switched to this odd position with his upper body bent to the side and his head looking downwards which can be seen in the attached photo. After that, he has repositioned his body to face downward while mostly staying still and the occasional grooming behavior.

ChitandChat · Oct 23, 2020

Update 2: Well it seems he's returned to the bottom of the stick again

MantisMart · Oct 24, 2020

Sounds normal to me. Sometimes they go to the bottom to hunt or look for water, but from what it sounds like to me he is just chillin in his enclosure. Dont expect him to just hang upside down all day. They do it a lot, but sometimes I guess they just like to mix it up.

And yea if he just swiped at the prey without seemingly trying to grab it, he will molt soon.

Unless the prey is too big that is.

Jdalt002 · Oct 24, 2020

I agree with Mart in that my mantids will almost always go towards the bottom of their cage when hungry or thirsty. Try giving him some flies and water.