Mantis Personalities

[Stuart89]

Right now I have 2 mantids, both africans of the same age from the same breeder, yet I can see very distinct differences between them. I found this pretty interesting, you wouldnt normally expect an insect to learn or personalise itself, but more of a simplistic mind that has already been programmed to do certain things with certain input. Is it just me that finds this cool?

One of my mantids, is a very active an ferocous hunter, simply dropping a cricket into the cup seals its death, the mantid runs after it and attacks it without the cricket actually having to move. The other, will not move after anything, and waits until the cricket is directly in front of him before he does anything. There are also a few other differences, if you look into the cup of mantis #1 (the active hunter) He will start to move and wonder around the cup, if you look into the cup of #2 (the waiter) he stays put as you would expect and doesnt move or anything.

Has anyone else noticed any personality differences between their mantids?

Will try the same when my ghosts arrive and see if they are all different.

Stuart.

 

[chrisboy101]

yh lol all my mantids have personalities in a way. my ghost mantid is quite shy but also very curious. i have chinese nymphs also, 1 is agressive, 1 is jumpy and the other is just lazy and cant be botherd to go after food. :lol:

 

[Rick]

I have found that many individuals are different from one another. My example the shield mantids I have are often watching me and will follow things with their heads. Most mantids don't even bother to notice if I am nearby but these always look and I can get them to follow things. I have not seen this too much with any others.

 

[chrisboy101]

I have found that many individuals are different from one another. My example the shield mantids I have are often watching me and will follow things with their heads. Most mantids don't even bother to notice if I am nearby but these always look and I can get them to follow things. I have not seen this too much with any others.

same with my shield nymphs lol

 

[Malnra]

I have 2 african's (both female .. bleh). One is adult, one is soon to be (surprised it is taking so much longer for her to molt than the other one) .... the one that is not adult watches me and when she see's other mantis in the adjoining containers she will stare at them with arms back as if ready to grab a lil snack. the other one, doesnt seem to be as interested in the other mantis.

Neither one races after it's food, however I have more than 1 cricket in the keeper with them so they are on demand feeding, not on a i feed them cycle. This means I do not know if either one of them is a chaser of the crickets. I also have the large flys in there (bluebottle as i recall) and if one gets near them and they are hungry i have seen them snatch it.

They are both very active when I hold them. Too much so to be honest. They are constantly trying to climb up my hand and if it is lower than my head they will go down my arm to try to climb up my shirt. After a few mins of this I put them back.

The giant asian babies are prob 2 inches long, but i have not held any of them. I may try one in the near future to see, but imagine they are even more into moving than the adults.

 

[Picho]

My odontomantis female have ADHD, I opened container for a 3 seconds and she flied away, while the male is 100% calm type

 

[chrisboy101]

My odontomantis female have ADHD, I opened container for a 3 seconds and she flied away, while the male is 100% calm type

adhd lol

 

[sk8erkho]

Yeah!! They do have different personalities!! I also, have the "watcher' as I call them!! I have two "big-headed, big-butt- big-armed," Cilnia Humeralis." :blink: One male one female, the female watches my every move, almost to the point of stalking me with her eyes!! Kind of creepy!! She's ferocious as well, nothing gets past her, greedy!!!! She has no problem chasing a meal down and choking it down in a few gulps, greedy! The male sleeps all the time. I have to walk up to him and blow on him to alert him, lazy, this one is!! I initially had to hand feed this guy,lazy!! Now, he will just wait until the grub is right in front of him and then grab at it. Sometimes I still have to tempt his tummy with the taste of... you know the rest!!!! And he will often begin by just waiting and eating from my hand but when i get tired of holding it I pull back he grabs, still chomping and when I let go , He lets go,LAZY!! Then there are the others which just kind of hang out, grab a bite when they get hungry and that's about it!

 

[darkspeed]

There has been a common trend here... Throughout almost every species the females are alert, voracious eating machines and the males are unattentive, barely there bumps on a log that only eat enough to maintain a pulse. There is a reason behind this. Mantids usually exhibit absolutely no social behavior until it is time to mate... the one point in their lives where they do anything but eat and grow. Their lives are spent in preparation for that event. The females train themselves like competitive eaters for when they have to gorge themselves in order to produce eggs. The males on the other hand live only for that one chance (or more if he is really lucky) where he spreads his seed before he dies. Surviving up to that point is all that matters, and moving alot only attracts unwanted attention from potential predators. Granted these traits vary among different species... some males are pretty spunky, and some females can be sticks in the mud... but those are way outside the norm.

 

[OGIGA]

Yep, I notice their personalities too. That's what makes raising mantises great!

 

[MantidLord]

Me too, I had two I. oratoria, and one mantis was very methodical about everything it did, whether it was moving, laying an ootheca, or even hunting. While the other I. oratoria was very hot-headed, and had a "no mercy" style when it came to eating.