Mental Health Questions/Quality of Life Issues

[Curiosity]

I still have two wild-caught mantises who are both alive and don't seem to be in a big hurry to die. I'm kind of worried about the fact that their lives have been reduced to little more than eating and sleeping - they don't even get to hunt anymore. (Unless there is a way to tempt them to try and catch mealworms.) I'm also wondering wether it's a good thing or not that their life spans have gone far beyond what should've been by now. . . there was a frost locally in October that probably killed all the wild mantises. How do I keep their lives from not just becoming constant suspended animation?

 

[Mantid-Tim]

I've had wild caught before (Chinese) and have always thought they are content to hunt flies in a large enough cage. Get an upright 10-gallon and they will be happy enough hanging upside down off the cage. Maybe try feeding flies instead of hand feeding worms if you want them to hunt.

 

[Connor]

They are insects, their only “worries” are to eat and survive, which you are providing. I’m sure they are doing well. If you are worried, I would just give them flies to hunt

 

[MrGhostMantis]

They don’t sleep, and as @Connor said, they only worry about eating and surviving.

 

[Curiosity]

Okay. . . I'll see if I can find some flies before they die of old age. . . neither of them can actually climb anymore. 

 

[MrGhostMantis]

Okay. . . I'll see if I can find some flies before they die of old age. . . neither of them can actually climb anymore. 

That may be from overfeeding. Your last mantis that died was extremely overfed.

 

[Curiosity]

That was probably true a couple days ago. . . their appetites dropped off a lot about 14 days back though.