marko999999
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- Joined
- Sep 23, 2018
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- 7
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Ok i'll be completely honest. I am new here and I love mantids since my childhood. Recently I saw a tutorial on youtube on how to pet a mantis. Since at this time of year there are lots of mantids everywhere i decided to take one as a pet myself. It was a brownish female european mantis. I was so happy. I put her into a large glass jar with a few large sticks so she can hang, i put like 3 to 4 cm of dirt layer at the bottom and i covered it with thin bandage like cloth so she cant get out. I put in a few crickets so she can eat them. I gave her one large mosquito with tweezers myself and she ate it. It was fine. Unfortunately after that she didnt want to eat anything. She would just hang upside down on the cloth at the top. And this morning she died 
I think she had enough light, there was plenty of food, I was spraying water 2 times a day- at morning and evening, she had enough space to move around if she wanted and she was alone, no other mantids. So why did she die? I saw her belly changed the colour so maybe she got infected? I did not sterilize the twigs cause I thought there was no need, since dirt itself isnt rly clean either. Or maybe she got poisoned by something in the water? I did use a bottle from glass cleaning fluid, but I washed it thoroughly (or maybe so it seemed). Or it was to humid in the air and she couldnt breathe, in which case the fact that she hanged at the top would make sense? Or maybe i got an old specimen and it was her time to die anyways (which i imagine is highly unlikely). So if somebody has an answer or suspicion pls help me. I would rly like to have a mantis as a pet as bugs and reptiles do depict me very well
I think she had enough light, there was plenty of food, I was spraying water 2 times a day- at morning and evening, she had enough space to move around if she wanted and she was alone, no other mantids. So why did she die? I saw her belly changed the colour so maybe she got infected? I did not sterilize the twigs cause I thought there was no need, since dirt itself isnt rly clean either. Or maybe she got poisoned by something in the water? I did use a bottle from glass cleaning fluid, but I washed it thoroughly (or maybe so it seemed). Or it was to humid in the air and she couldnt breathe, in which case the fact that she hanged at the top would make sense? Or maybe i got an old specimen and it was her time to die anyways (which i imagine is highly unlikely). So if somebody has an answer or suspicion pls help me. I would rly like to have a mantis as a pet as bugs and reptiles do depict me very well 
