Mantis can’t catch food

[junebuggie]

Hi all.

My asian dead leaf mantis (l4) is struggling to catch her food. I recently got her from a local breeder, she has not molted in my care yet. I’ve only tried mealworms, she wants to eat them, but when she goes to strike she just cannot grab onto it. I’ve tried everything to make it easier for her, I ended up cutting the poor worm in half and handing her the back end. She grasped onto it just fine and ate it that way.

I attempted to feed her for long periods over three days, but every time she tried to get it she just could not grab it. Her raptorial legs look fine, she uses them while walking, i’m not sure what’s going on. Is this a concern? Is she just a little dumb?

Thank you for reading.

 

[diablomantis]

Some mantis seem to have trouble grabbing prey with such a low body profile, you can keep feeding her from tweezers or through an appropriately sized roach in front of her and see if she will take it.

 

[hibiscusmile]

The other breeder may of hand fed her, did he indicate what she was eating?

 

[junebuggie]

The other breeder may of hand fed her, did he indicate what she was eating?

He said he was feeding mealworms and blue bottles to all his mantids. He explained to me that I could just put it in the cup and she would get it, so I assumed he was mostly letting them catch their own food. She’s not starving, just worries me for later feedings.

 

[hibiscusmile]

hum, I guess just wait and see.

 

[TheWolven]

He said he was feeding mealworms and blue bottles to all his mantids. He explained to me that I could just put it in the cup and she would get it, so I assumed he was mostly letting them catch their own food. She’s not starving, just worries me for later feedings.

Heya! Just to let you know, mealworms are overtly high in fat and make poor staple feeders for mantises. Please do consider switching them out for a species of roach.

 

[junebuggie]

Heya! Just to let you know, mealworms are overtly high in fat and make poor staple feeders for mantises. Please do consider switching them out for a species of roach.

Thank you for letting me know! I have a dubia colony and I will start feeding her little ones.

 

[jmantis]

I have an orchid female (subadult!) named Peach who had a weird molt (L3 or L4 I’d say) and caused her to not want to use her raptorial arms. Even 3 molts later, and now that she’s in perfect condition, she doesn’t want to try and catch prey. She uses them to navigate and grab on to sticks/stems in her enclosure but doesn’t want to catch food! She’s a little princess and gets tong/tweezer fed. Sometimes they’re just weird!

How is your girl doing?