New Mantis Lover! HELP

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spencervirt

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Hey all! I have loved mantises my whole life. They always find a way onto my face whenever I am near one. I did a lot of research on them and then went out to look for one. I found a beautiful male (I think) and placed him in a large plastic container with drilled holes. I added two large flexible sticks for him to climb on and a flower with some grass at the bottom. I purchased fruit flies and 12 crickets. I was misting twice daily. For some reason, he refused to eat. At one point, I placed him in a large cup with two crickets urging him to eat them, which he did not. They were the perfect size for him too. By the way, the species is M. Religiosa. On the third day he was twitching at the bottom of the "tank" nearly dead. We tried everything we could but to no avail. What did I do wrong? I want to learn how to be a good mantis parent! Is it bad to take mantises from the wild? Could that be the problem? Do I need to order one raised in captivity to be successful?

after all my research and hard work finding him I was so disheartened! When I do this again, what should I alter about my setup? I know for sure that I will get a different cage setup. A large critter keeper of a 10 gallon aquarium. My reasoning is that with the perch lower to the ground it will be easier to catch crickets. I will also get some fake plants. Which, if any, substrate is good? And where could I find some lol

Thanks!

 
Welcome to the site. Do a search for some enclosure ideas. Sometimes they just die and we don't know why.

 
If he was an adult, he may of been old, where you had him is fine, if he was hungry he would climb down to get the food, surely he knew it was there. It is ok to catch them from outside, this did not have anything to do with his death I am sure. You also only need to mist them once a day, unless you have small nymphs. You can go with a bigger cage, but if a small mantis, they will then have a hard time getting to the food, also if they don't eat the cricket, remove it after a while, it can eat the mantis if hungry. I like to give my mantis a cricket held in my forceps, this way they get to notice it and will grab it usually. Did the mantis have wings? If so that will tell you if it was an adult. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask! ps a lot of us use spagnum moss, u can find on my site or in some store carry it for your substrate, and fake plants are good!

 
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Welcome to the forum. You will get lots of good information here.

The mantids I have caught in the wild have done just fine in captivity. Once they learn how good they have it, they are usually pretty happy.

Was your mantis an adult when you brought him in? It sounds like he was exhibiting pre-molting behavior by not eating. When you found him on the bottom of the enclosure, did he look like he might have begun to shed his exoskeleton? If so, he might have fallen during the molt.

Sometimes they just pass on. It sounds like you provided him with a good environment. If you think he might have fallen, do a search on the forum here and look for ways to make the top of the container suitable for a molting mantis.

Above all, don't let this discourage you from being a mantis parent!

I'm just curious...did you find a mantis the first time you went outside to look? I look several times a day and only occasionally find one. However, I have another friend who finds one just about every time he steps out the door. My yard must have hundreds of them with all the ooths we've hatched, but they are good at hiding!

Rebecca

 
charleyandbecky said:
Welcome to the forum. You will get lots of good information here.The mantids I have caught in the wild have done just fine in captivity. Once they learn how good they have it, they are usually pretty happy.

Was your mantis an adult when you brought him in? It sounds like he was exhibiting pre-molting behavior by not eating. When you found him on the bottom of the enclosure, did he look like he might have begun to shed his exoskeleton? If so, he might have fallen during the molt.

Sometimes they just pass on. It sounds like you provided him with a good environment. If you think he might have fallen, do a search on the forum here and look for ways to make the top of the container suitable for a molting mantis.

Above all, don't let this discourage you from being a mantis parent!

I'm just curious...did you find a mantis the first time you went outside to look? I look several times a day and only occasionally find one. However, I have another friend who finds one just about every time he steps out the door. My yard must have hundreds of them with all the ooths we've hatched, but they are good at hiding!

Rebecca
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Thanks for all the help everyone! Although he was rather small, I believe he was an adult because of his fully developed wings. When he was at the bottom, his "neck" looked like it had a white film covering it. I dont know why he would have fallen... He had plenty to hold on to. I made sure of that!

I found my mantis the first time I looked. Heres the way I have always found them- look by lights. Small bugs are attracted to regular bulb lights, not flourescent, energy saving, etc, but standard light bulbs. Any outside light fixture notably close to some plants will have lots of flying bugs and therefore many mantises! At my old house there was a light fixture by the pool. Every day we would see a new mantis there feeding on gnats and such. We just moved in to our new house here and we have a balcony. On the wall of the balcony there is a light fixture that has bunches of bugs. A cute female mantis was right by there stalking a fly. So in my case, I just need to walk 20 feet to find one.

So my advice in a nutshell is go where the bugs are, near lights. The same way you will always find any othyer carnivore where the food is.

Quick question, of the very few mantises I have found, I have seen red and black eyes. What constitutes this difference?

An interesting observation I had with the one I found was that he never swayed from side to side when I was near him. Why? I thought they needed to do that for depth perception. Could he have been blind? could that be a reason for his black eyes?

Bugsincyberspace has a "perfect mantis habitat" for sale with moss and a plant included. It seems a bit small though- is this really acceptable? if not i will purchase a 10 gal aquarium, some moss, a fake plant, and a black screen that will hopefully act as a surface for which the mantis to grab onto in order to molt.

One last observation- when he was at the bottom, he began to twitch very rapidly. You could literally hear it, like chattering teeth. What could this possibly mean?

Thanks again and im glad I found some nice people who are so willing to help me through this! :D

 
Welcome from Yuma, AZ!

Like everyone else, I don't see any evidence that you did anything wrong, and if he was an adult, he probably died of old age. Things are pretty rough for a batchelor mantis out there in the wild! Please let us know if he had wings, which would make him an adult. BTW, it would be a pity to waste that nice enclosure you have set up. Thought about getting a new mantis? :D

 
The housing u get for the new one, should depend on the size of adult it will be, the one you have now seems to me to be fine if it is the size u said it is, most go by three times the height and twice the width of the mantis.

 
It sounds like your enclosure was perfect. Like others have said, it was probably old age. You made his last days comfortable.

I hope you find another one very soon!

Rebecca

 
GhostMantis said:
...Quick question, of the very few mantises I have found, I have seen red and black eyes. What constitutes this difference? ...An interesting observation I had with the one I found was that he never swayed from side to side when I was near him. Why? I thought they needed to do that for depth perception. Could he have been blind? could that be a reason for his black eyes?

Bugsincyberspace has a "perfect mantis habitat" for sale with moss and a plant included. It seems a bit small though- is this really acceptable? if not i will purchase a 10 gal aquarium, some moss, a fake plant, and a black screen that will hopefully act as a surface for which the mantis to grab onto in order to molt.
Click to expand...
Red and black eyes? The only time I've seen when a mantid's eyes were different than it's color is at night time (their eyes become dark like the night). Other than that, it's eyes were injured.

They may or may not sway depending on the mantid itself. They usually tend to sway when they're on plants or stalking prey. And yes, it is possible that it may not sway due to injured eyes.

A container for your mantid just depends on you want. If you want it to be in a tank that's decorated like it's natural environment, by all means go for it. My containers are just glass jars with a stick or two for it to climb on.

 
The only time any of my mantids will sway back and forth is when stalking food. I love to watch it!

About the eyes...sometimes during the night, especially if I am waiting on one to molt, I'll go into the room where my mantids are and turn on the light to check on them. They are always staring at me with their little black eyes at night...so cute. Otherwise, they appear a color similar to their heads, kind of a brownish green color.

 

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