Mantids like rolling in Water?

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mtolosa

mtolosa

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Joined
Jun 9, 2013
Messages
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Location
Northern VA
I got 10 L2 Odontomantis planiceps (asian ant mantis) on Saturday, and have noticed they do something funny - they seem to like rubbing themselves in water drops (7 out of the 10 did this when I spritzed them). They stretched their bodies out and rubbed against the water. The best way I can explain it is like watching a cat rub against your leg, or a roll on a pillow.

I wanted to see if any of you have experienced something like this with other mantids before and what it might mean (my main worry would be that they're not getting enough water, although I've spritzed them 1-2 times each day so far and it's pretty humid in Northern VA anyway this time of year. The other extreme might be that they didn't like being wet, so they were trying to wipe off any mist that got on them, except a couple of them did it right in water drops.

Or maybe it's just a funny ant mantis thing. I just wanted to get the opinions of those with more experience in case I should be doing something different!

Thanks ^_^

 
Could they be batheing? Thats the first thing that came to my mind. Otherwise I would expect them to drown quickly!

 
Yup I've experienced this with other sp of mantids too, I call it bathing bc it looks like they are! :) a neat little thing they do...

 
Very small mantids can get stuck in the surface tension after attempting to take a drink. You could be seeing them struggling for their lives.

 
Never seen it, but it sounds like they like it, but, hey to be sure, u send them to me and I will let you know after a month or two of observing them just what they are doing! :tt2:

 
I've seen ant mantis do this with no water, just being handled will spark this behavior, looks like the nymph is stretching with raptors together but extended out.sometimes they move to the side too. Funny little guys enjoy

 
Ranitomeya said:
Very small mantids can get stuck in the surface tension after attempting to take a drink. You could be seeing them struggling for their lives.
Click to expand...
Definitely not this! I use a very fine mist; the biggest droplets that might bleed together are still tinier than their eye balls. There's no struggling involved. They basicaly rub around in the fine mist that's on the wall and then groom their feet and antennae. I think you all must be right that they're just bathing! I spritzed them again before bed last night and they even seem to seek out the little baubles of water to rub around in! It's pretty adorable ^_^

 

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