My New (European?) Mantis!!

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Wallace Grover

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Hello, after learning the viv is probably not causing my allergies, I brought it back inside and so far so good. Just by chance I happened to spot this guy today and thought he would be mine:

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He has tried to get to the light and fell onto the leaf litter once, and onto his perching spot once, so hope he's okay. He is about 2 1/2-3"

Anyways, I have some questions:

Is he a euro or chinese?

Does he look healthy? (is it even a he for that matter)

and, are pet store crickets ok to feed him?

PS: For some akward reason the name Herbert popped into my head, so yeah, his name is Herbert...

 
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What you have there is an adult female Stagmomantis carolina She looks healthy. Store bought crickets should be fine. Just make sure the crickets are fed with healthy foods.

 
Woo, I'm so happy to hear that! It's the species I actually originally wanted (since it's one of the few native mantids!!)

 
Hmm, I'm a bit worried about her. She has fallen twice from about 1 foot, 1 1/2 feet, and 1 1/2 feet (2 on the leaf litter, which was no big deal, but once on a sharp pince cone). So i took the pinecones out. She is still moving around, now she's halfway up her perch. Is this a big deal?

 
Falling is a bad sign. This time of year depending on your location she is most likely an old woman.

 
she only falls on the glass.

she would not accept a live small green grasshopper on tweezers. any other feedung techniques?

 
Wallace Grover said:
she would not accept a live small green grasshopper on tweezers. any other feedung techniques?
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Sometimes I can get one to start eating if I force feed the drumstick of a hopper or cricket to them first. She may just not wanna take food from tweezers though, some of mine won't take food from tongs

 
Hurray, she finally ate!! I hade to hold its abdomen right up to her mouth, she nibbled at it a bit the several times I did it, and finally grabbed it. I'm a bit worried about water, I mist her cage every day and there is visible water droplets on the leaves, but I never see her really "drink" it.

PS: How many times a week should I be feeding prey items around this size?

The victim:

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Om nom nom

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Probably every other day, maybe every third. That's a good size but females can certainly put back a heck of a lot of food! That hopper was alive when you gave it to her wasn't it? Seems like an obvious question, but if it wasn't moving it might explain why she wouldn't go for it. You may have more success with a moth. Flying things always seem to really get them going!

 
I offered it to her when it was alive, but after several tries she would not eat it and it was squeezed to death by the tweezers. She took it dead...

 
I wouldn't worry too much about her drinking the water. My female Carolina hardly ever drinks, but my male drinks almost every time I mist. :)

 
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I just put a live grass hopper in the cage. ( I was thinking I would have to retrieve it tomorrow and hand feed her)

2 Hours later I find her munching on it...

PS: I was trying to get her to sit on my hand and she feel into the leaf litter skittering away in fear. Does falling itself actually hurt them, if it's on something like leaf litter?

 
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