Nymph Annoyance.

[macro junkie]

Yeah, my camera is too bad to take a visible pic of it <_< . Anyway, it is annoying me as it has absolutely terrible accuracy and constantly misses the crickets. It will take a lot of my time to keep it alive but i'll keep at it. :lol:

why do they miss there food?1 of mine use to be like that untill it shed.

 

[blitzmantis]

It is constantly on the roof and just misses the crickets I offer it coz it won't go down and find the crickets itself. What do I do? Please help you guys

 

[Mantida]

It is constantly on the roof and just misses the crickets I offer it coz it won't go down and find the crickets itself. What do I do? Please help you guys

Try tilting the container to the side so the cricket can crawl closer to the mantis.

Or, you can go with a different food source, like houseflies or any other flying insect.

 

[macro junkie]

Try tilting the container to the side so the cricket can crawl closer to the mantis.Or, you can go with a different food source, like houseflies or any other flying insect.

get some flys.Rember if the cricket is to big the mantid wont go for it unless its starving.Try a smaller cricket 1/4th its body size mayby

 

[blitzmantis]

The mantis is so small (about 3rd-4rd instar) and I have got the smallest crickets I can find which are less than 1cm long, but it still has trouble because it stays on the top all the time. It's getting cold this time of year, here in the UK, so I got a heat mat under the cage. Since it's winter, no flies are in sight. I'm thinking of buying fruit flies for exotic-pets.co.uk but the holes in the top are too big and the flies would escape, any ideas?

 

[Mantida]

Rebecca (mantisplace.com) has a some insect cloth and housefly pupae, you could glue some insect cloth to the cage lid or put something heavy on top to keep it flat if you don't want to glue the cloth on.

 

[blitzmantis]

I am uncomfortable when it comes to ordering stuff from places over sea ( I live in UK) but I'm probably gonna buy a culture online and find some way to cover the holes.

 

[blitzmantis]

It just ate another cricket, luckily. I think it's just a fluke that it eats every so often and at this rate it won't ever grow.

 

[sk8erkho]

It just ate another cricket, luckily. I think it's just a fluke that it eats every so often and at this rate it won't ever grow.

Don't worry about it's eating habits. I have learned from the guys here at the forum that they will eat when they are ready. They won't starve to death unless you fail to supply food. They will grow and molt as they are supposed to. I live in an apartment (flat) and flies are definitely a problem for me as for them escaping and such. I have had a few mishaps as in the flies learning to fly again. But that was only because I failed to renew my batch of genetically altered files as on the net. They do eventually fly if you don't at some point reintroduce such flies. At any rate, the containers they come in usually work out fine. I have not yet tried Rick's method with the little sponge thingy inthe side of the container and then introducing the flies via a funnel into the container but again I hear it works rather well. There are all sorts of other feeding methods posted here at the forum under feeding going back a few months or so. In your spare time you may want to do a bit of research to see what fits your style and comfort.

Best of luck, and don't worry. You're in good hands here!!!

 

[blitzmantis]

:lol: I remember this thread. My mantis was microscopic when I posted my first thread here... It's huge now!

 

[king_frog]

And judging by your avatar, huge is 3cm

 

[idolomantis]

And judging by your avatar, huge is 3cm

ahahahahahahahaha LOL indeed huge wew :lol:

 

[asdsdf]

Lol....Isn't it 2-3 inches though?

 

[macro junkie]

qwote - I'm thinking of buying fruit flies for exotic-pets.co.uk

i hope your willing to wait 5 weeks for the culture to arive..lol..dont use that web site they suck really bad in every way...get your culture fomr here/ http://www.livefoodsdirect.co.uk/products.asp?dept=1009

 

[blitzmantis]

Yes, it has grown quite a bit since I on here saying it won't eat, it is like 4.5cm now. Also, thanks MJ, great site, i'll get fruit flies from there when I get some griffin mantids. Last thing, is Graham a good seller?

 

[Mantida]

Last thing, is Graham a good seller?

From what I heard from MJ, he is a seller with some nice mantids, but takes FOREVER to get back to you and always seems to let you down. He never answered any of my mails, and MJ said he always replied to his in 2 week periods. On top of that, he promised MJ some Popa spurca so we could do a trade later on as I want this species, and after a month from the promise Graham backed out of it.