mantid

[robo mantis]

I went camping last weekend and found a male chinese mantis looks to be L3-L4 it shed when i got back but now he is not eating and he is deformed (his back leg is bent weird) and he has a hard time gripping. I put in a small cricket and he jumped away from it (he is very skinny and it scares me)

 

[Rick]

Any way you can post a pic? A messed up back leg won't hurt him much.

 

[robo mantis]

i'll try to post one. do you need photobucket?

 

[Rick]

You do need to host the pic somewhere. Photobucket is an option for that.

 

[robo mantis]

hmm can't i copy and paste?

 

[Rick]

You can copy and paste the URL but it's gotta be hosted somewhere first.

 

[bruty2fruity]

I went camping last weekend and found a male chinese mantis looks to be L3-L4 it shed when i got back but now he is not eating and he is deformed (his back leg is bent weird) and he has a hard time gripping. I put in a small cricket and he jumped away from it (he is very skinny and it scares me)

yeah he isnt ready to eat yet. when there ready they will eat beleive me one of mine ran away from his food and became paper thin, then out of nowhere he just ate and ate and ate

 

[robo mantis]

it died

 

[13ollox]

oh no . was it because it wasnt eating ? did you try handfeed it ?

all my aploligies

Neil

 

[robo mantis]

i think he died from not eating

 

[13ollox]

did you try hand feed him though ? cutting a bit of livefood so the juice runs then sticking the thing in its gob ?

Neil

 

[robo mantis]

oh couldn't do it with this one the crix went crazy when i picked it up with tweesers.

 

[13ollox]

thats never managed to stop me before . i tend to hold the crix by the back leg and wait for them to stop squirming , then a little cut on the abdomen and put it in the mantids gob ( the hard bit ,because the mantid backs away and ducks his head n things ) but eventually the'll grab hold of it on there own unless there is a problem with the mantids front legs !

Neil

 

[robo mantis]

what happens when you hold it for him forever (it hurts holding for a while)

 

[Jwonni]

the one i hand feed has dead crickets i wouldn't like holding it while it was eaten alive

i smack em with a cd case so they are dead/unconcious then pull the head of with my tweezers, then put the head end to my mantids mouth so she can taste it then she takes it.

sometimes if she does not take it (assume not hungry) and i hold it a while for her my arm aches

 

[robo mantis]

i have done that before but not killing the cricket i thought they may not take dead ones (they have before but some haven't).