Need Help With Found Mantis

[DaveGF]

Today I found a small praying mantis (not sure of exact type-I live in Southern NJ) on the bathroom window in my house. Must of come in with the potted plants I brought inside in late October.

It's about 3/4 of an inch long from the head to the tip of it's wings.

Approximately how long since it hatched?

I want to do everything I can to help it survive until the spring. Is it small/young enough to still be eating fruit flies, or does it need something bigger? I've read a lot of material on the internet today, but I'm still not sure what to feed it at this size.

I'll set up a nice enclosure and provide it a misting for water, but right now I'm very concerned about what kind of food it should be eating. Especially since it may have had little to eat since it's been inside for so long.

Probably a very dumb question, but there's no chance it could of flown in from outside recently? :shock:

 

[Mantis Keeper]

Ok, first off, if it has wings, it is already an adult. Try feeding it crickets or flies(house flies that is). Moths may also work if you are still drawing them to your porchlight. It will eat almost anything it can wrap it's claws around, some people have even succeeded in feeding them pieces of chicken on tweezers.

 

[DaveGF]

It's in the 20's at night now here in Southern NJ, so no bugs around.

If I go to a place like Petco, will they have crickets that are the right size? I've seen crickets for sale there for gecko lizards, but they seem too large for this little guy.

 

[Mantis Keeper]

I would suggest buying the smallest they have, if it still is too large, use tweezers to feed it to the mantis.

 

[Tapos]

if you go with chicken, use liver, put it on a warm plate, so it gets to body temp. then use a tweezer to hold a strip of liver over the mantis head, wiggle it, the mantis will strike and eat it, after a while they become used to it and it is easy. you may also be able to get meal worms or some other worm at petco that is actually a moth larv. let em hatch and feed the moths to the mantis.

 

[Andrew]

Go to PetCo and ask for pinhead crickets. They should be able to help you out.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[Rick]

It must of been inside for awhile. All mantids on the east coast have been dead since the first frost. Amazing it has even managed to live inside. It is probably a carolina mantis. Feed it small crickets. Get ones that will fit in it's front legs. They can tackle large food though. I don't recommend feeding it liver or chicken.

 

[hortus]

im confused what adult mantids are 3/4 of an inch long. i understand its probably a male by the way he describes makes me think the wings exstend past the abdomin. 3/4 of a inch was the size of my chinese as hatchlings

 

[DaveGF]

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, the wings extend beyond the abdomen.

I found three more today on the window above the collection of potted plants. I thought there would probably be more. Can someone tell me how many more might be hiding in those plants? Please tell me there isn't a possibility of dozens. :?

I need to keep them seperated or they might eat each other, correct? Or do they reach an age where that isn't a problem as long as they are well fed. It would be a lot easier to keep them together, especially if I find more, but I'll do whatever is necessary.

What do I use to put on the bottom of their containers?

 

[Mantis Keeper]

I would not suggest keeping them together. If you have a camera, please take pictures. It is only even relatively safe to keep most mantids together as hatchlings. Are your mantids very thin? or are they more robust? and what size are the claws compared to body length.

 

[Rick]

This is very interesting. Do they look like this:

 

[Ian]

Is that not like the pic of the black mantis, that was used by that lady selling ooths?

 

[Rick]

That is a male carolina mantis. Most of them are black in color.

 

[Ian]

Oh they are? Never knew that...I thought they were green. Maybe I am thinking of the limbata?

 

[DaveGF]

They are lime green, not black. Otherwise they look very similiar. Their wings are long and slightly spread out, unlike the adult in the pic. The adults I've seen in my yard over the years are either green or tannish.

I bought four small Kritter carriers and small crickets with their specially made carrier (easy to withdraw crickets). The crickets have the water pads, and I'm feeding them kale.

I put a stick in each of the carriers, but forgot to get sand (will do today).

None of the stores I called had pin crickets, just "small". The crickets are on average a little more than half the length of the mantids. I put two in each carrier last evening, and two mantids each ate one by this afternoon.

I'm surprised that they could do this. Even though the crickets are shorter than the mantids, they seem too wide to be killed by the mantids, but apparently at least two of them can do it. No idea how those little mouths can attack the neck of the cricket.

Will they eat fruit flies at this age? I'm a little worried about the two mantids who haven't eaten. Maybe they aren't strong enough yet? Seems like all of them should of eaten by now.

I'll try and post pics either tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Rick]

What are you planning on using sand for? If for substrate use spahgnum moss instead. It comes in dried "bricks" at Lowe's or Home Deport and is sometimes called orchid moss. Put a shallow layer of it in the bottom of the kritter keepers and keep it moist. Sometimes the carolina mantid males are more green than black. Or maybe you have european mantids which are pictured below:

 

[DaveGF]

Yes, they look like the European. I'll buy the moss.

Since my last post, the least active mantid ate a cricket.

 

[Andrew]

Are you sure that you have mantids, and not "mantid-flies"? Ive never seen or heard of an adult mantis that was only 3/4" long.

 

[Rick]

Maybe his measurements are off?