mantid L4 afraid of a little Cricket?

[sk8erkho]

I have this male Chinese mantis which is about L4 now. Female mantids at L2-3 are far more aggressive than this guy. He is too big now for fruit flies at least to feed him, sufficiently. I mean it will take what around 20-30 Hydei to fill this guy!!? Okay, maybe he prefers fruit flies but running away from a cricket which is over half his his size down is a bit ridiculous to me. Especially after watching my little "cricket wrangler" just grab these suckers which are almost maybe 3/4 her actual size and she grabs them and drags em back to her kicking and screaming. This big guy runs literally runs from the crickets. I was thinking sink or swim for this guy toss him in the tank with one cricket 1/2 his size until I look and there ore only legs and antennae left. But my 7 year old calls it cruel. I call it fight or flight lesson in life. These are your food and You are the Man. But maybe it doesn't work that way. I don't want to traumatize the little guy but come on. Bluebottles.

 

[Rob Byatt]

I know what you are saying, but as the saying goes;

'you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink'.

If it isn't hungry, then don't force it to eat.

Rob.

 

[OGIGA]

Try plucking the two jumping legs from the cricket. It worked for me before. Yeah, that's even more cruel.

 

[randyardvark]

or use house flies and moths...

but if it doesnt want to eat it wont....

 

[Horatio]

Maybe this leads back to the topic of "Do mantids have emotions"...Perhaps he has cricketphobia...Perhaps he was bitten after hatching and needs mantis psychotherapy (joking...) I did, however, have a nymph who crawled all over me until an agressive male child held him and just about squashed him (post nipping the child). It took my little Rocky all weekend before he wanted to be held again. It eventually succumbed to a cricket's bite (on the back of his little neck...). My husband then fed the naughty cricket to one of our large goldfish...

 

[skinnylegs]

maby its anorexic?

 

[sk8erkho]

You guys joke, but I actually observed this guy RUN from the cricket. When the cricket would just stroll over anywhere near him, he'd take off!! I mean, falling over upside down running, just to get away. While you joke, I sat and observed this for a good 1/2 hour or so while discussing it with my eldest nephew. FEAR. Or some would say "instinctively" getting out of the way of the cricket. This was not intended for debate or even ridicule. It's just what I observed one evening while attempting to feed my mantid. I had never seen such a thing and found it interesting to observe. Give it a name.

 

[Way.Of.The.Mantis]

I had a large Budwing who suddenly took a 'jumpy cricket skitzo' turn..he would run from crickets too, he eventually died about 12days later, try popping your crickets in the freezer for 5min, by the time they wake up, they'll be dead..wait thats not right.. :lol: :lol:

Jonny.

 

[Evil_Berzerker]

i had that same problem today! i fed my wee mantis probs bout the same age of ur one but maybe younger and i held a wee cricket about a third his size infront of him with tweezers and he took a runner, he ate it the 2nd time tho so its cool

 

[anthony2001a]

I have this male Chinese mantis which is about L4 now. Female mantids at L2-3 are far more aggressive than this guy. He is too big now for fruit flies at least to feed him, sufficiently. I mean it will take what around 20-30 Hydei to fill this guy!!? Okay, maybe he prefers fruit flies but running away from a cricket which is over half his his size down is a bit ridiculous to me. Especially after watching my little "cricket wrangler" just grab these suckers which are almost maybe 3/4 her actual size and she grabs them and drags em back to her kicking and screaming. This big guy runs literally runs from the crickets. I was thinking sink or swim for this guy toss him in the tank with one cricket 1/2 his size until I look and there ore only legs and antennae left. But my 7 year old calls it cruel. I call it fight or flight lesson in life. These are your food and You are the Man. But maybe it doesn't work that way. I don't want to traumatize the little guy but come on. Bluebottles.

Well, mantids will not eat before and just after molting. They will ignore or run away from food during this time. And there may be a "learned aversion" because of a bad experience--getting bitten by a cricket for example. To fix your "cowardly mantis," I would try smaller crickets until you can build up his confidence to try bigger crickets. Flies are good too. After another shed, you can try bigger crickets again. Or maybe you can find the wizard of Oz and ask for courage.

Anthony