Madagascan Marbled Mantis

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deianbreed

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Mar 18, 2011
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hello i'm recently new to owning a mantis, and purchased a Madagascan Marbled Mantis upon purchasing the mantis the bloke in the shop sold me small locust as food at the time i thought that these looked a little too big for my mantis which is about 20mm in size. i was reassured that these locust would be fine as they take pray that are much bigger than them in the wild. so when i got him home i placed one of the locust ,in the container with him and left him to it. some hours later i check on him to see how he was getting on only to find that two of his legs where missing on his left hand side the two on the metathorax and mesothorax. was this the locust? i understand that he will gain new legs when he moults, but he is finding it hard to get around and feed. i managed to hand feed him a small amount of a wax worm lava (5 or 6 bites) today but i am worried he will not be able to moult as he finds it hard to climb. please can you give me your advice and suggestions on what i can do to save him as i will be heart broken if he doesn't pull through thanks for your help. Deian :)

 
The locust may have done this, or he may have scuffled with the locust and lost them (the locust probably ate the dropped legs). I'd keep feeding him the way you are, and hope he can molt safely. Really, the best think you can do. Do you have any pictures?

And welcome, please introduce yourself in the introduction forum :)

 
Deby said:
If you feel the locusts are too big, you can try small crickets or fruit flies.
Click to expand...
yeah i got him some pinhead crickets but due to his legs being missing he's struggling i been hand feeding him wax worms which is time consuming but he's eating so thats the main thing i guess hopefully he will moult soon. ty :)

 
use tweezers and let the crix touch his mouth and he should grab on with his claws and eat it on his own.

as stated above ,do you have any pics?

 
I find that alot of the time, employees in pet stores don't know whats best for the creatures that they sell.

Sometimes I feed large prey to my mantids, but usually it is something that can be overpowered easily by the mantis ( a soft moth or freshly molted insect).
I have had a few mantids suffer injuries from grasshoppers, they can kick and bite pretty hard. Many times, I will disable the prey and hand it to the mantis if it seems too big, or too strong.

 
thank you guys for you info. manny has managed to start to moult today although this was on the base of the container so i have attached him to a twig so no is hanging and seems to be doing well

 

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