The egg case hatched on the 25th and after releasing some and unfortunately after some sibling rivalry, I have two nymphs left. I have been letting a lot of fruit flies into the enclosure (pagoda) everyday but I have never seen one of them eat a fly. I always see dead flies at the bottom of the pagoda so I don't know if they are just dying or if the mantises killed them. I am now out of fruit flies and will probably buy some more later today. Are pinhead crickets too big for them right now? Is there anything else I should be doing? I read in a few places to put a moist cotton ball at the bottom of the enclosure for water. They haven't touched it though. Any help is appreciated!
Not sure if my nymphs are eating
- Thread starter soleilvie
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ismart
Well-known member
What you are doing is fine. Just because you don't see any being eaten does not mean thats not whats happening. Have you seen any wings or legs on the enclosure floor? They should start now to have more of an appetite anyway. Just keep throwing in fruit flies. You could use pin head crickets, but fruit flies usually cover more ground in an enclosure. Oh, and if you want your fruit flies to last a little longer try putting a small drop of sugar water in the enclosure. The flies will feed off the drop for days. 
MantidLord
Well-known member
What species do you have?
They don't eat the wings if they can avoid them, usually spit them out, make sure u mist the chinese morning and again at night
If you put in enough flies you should see them eating. If they are L1 they may be able to take pinhead crickets but those are not the best choice in foods because they generally stay down at the bottom and hide.
ismart
Well-known member
They usually eat the entire fly, or what ever it is they are eating. Just keep throwing in feeders. Hopefully they will begin to eat. Mist lightly twice a day as well.
I saw both of my mantises eating flies yesterday, so that's good. I bought the second vial of fruit flies and dropped a few in and when I went to put some more in today, there were none alive in the vial. I guess I'm going to have to find some pinhead crickets because I'm not going to buy a third vial of fruit flies. There's culture and larvae in there but none flying around.
The pet stores don' t have good ff vials, they let them dry out before reordering. Seems like a waste to me, but whatta I know?
UPDATE: I was able to get a bottle of fruit flies (instead of a vial) and they are lasting much longer. They were in the store for two weeks before I got them and there is still plenty in there. One of the mantises died but the other one looks great. I have seen it eat a few times and I have been spraying some water in the enclosure twice a day. It shed today and is now about 3/4"! Is there any way to tell now if it's a girl or a boy? I want to say it's a girl but I'm not entirely sure.
Sure, boys have more butt segments!
Just the opposite of humans!
and I never seen one eat to much, but they say they can.
