Mature fm budwing only partially eats prey

[Lylelovett666]

I think I've seen this on the forum before but searching turned up nothing.My mature budwing fm has started to only partially consume her prey.She generally eats a quarter to half of the cricket and then discards the rest.Any reason for this?

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Just out of curiosity are the parts she consumes generally the same every time or is it that she just doesn't want the rest? Because my friends dead leaf mantis only eats the head and torso of crickets but will eat a whole house fly(except wings), its like it doesn't want to eat the butt of the cricket.

 

[Lylelovett666]

Just out of curiosity are the parts she consumes generally the same every time or is it that she just doesn't want the rest? Because my friends dead leaf mantis only eats the head and torso of crickets but will eat a whole house fly(except wings), its like it doesn't want to eat the butt of the cricket.

the thread I recall seemed to say something about the head but she seems to be random in her feeding.

 

[PhilinYuma]

the thread I recall seemed to say something about the head but she seems to be random in her feeding.

That's right, she's not from Texas.

 

[Lylelovett666]

That's right, she's not from Texas.

But Texas wants her anyway.I'm just curious because I've never seen her push the plate away until now and I know I've seen reports of this kind of thing among mature mantids.To quote Larry King"Why"?

 

[Lylelovett666]

Hunger seems to play no part in this.She discarded the other cricket but is now currently eating another.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Has she been fertilized? Does she have a very full abdomen? Even if she has never been mated, she will be building the material to make an ooth, and if fed too much, she may become egg bound. I'd suggest upping the humidity (to make the ooth laying process easier) and cut down drastically on her feeding. How much is she being fed each day?

 

[Lylelovett666]

In have read that they should be fed as much as possible to encourage ooth production.With that in mind I have had a constant amount of food for her.Her abdomen goes from balloonl ike to flat and it only seems to take a day her to deflate.Just not sure what to do at this point.

 

[PhilinYuma]

In have read that they should be fed as much as possible to encourage ooth production.With that in mind I have had a constant amount of food for her.Her abdomen goes from balloonl ike to flat and it only seems to take a day her to deflate.Just not sure what to do at this point.

Yeah, common advice but almost certainly wrong given the number of egg bound mantids reported in captivity and the fact that a pregnant female mantis in nature gets no more food than her younger sister. It seems clear that your female is only eating part of her food because the movement of the prey stimulates her to strike and her appestats, like those of humans, tell her when she is full.

That's my story, anyway!