P. griffinii help?

[Malakyoma]

Hey guys I have something I was wondering if you could help with. One of my Griffins is very skittish, very hyperactive, and goes absolutely nuts anytime I touch her enclosure. Especially the sponge plugging the feeding hole. She'll flare her wings and do the angry dance side to side aggressively. She doesnt pull her arms in like a threat just the wings and the swaying. Then if I so much as put a superworm or beetle or any other food item near that hole she starts running. She'll run up the walls so fast she falls, then she'll run all along the floor to the next wall where she'll run til she falls again. I'm worried she's going to hurt herself, and its all because she needs to be fed. Today I even took her out when she was going crazy to see if I could calm her down but all she did was grab my finger and pinch incredibly hard. She drew blood even. First time I've had a mantis do that.

Is there anything I can do to calm her down? I handle her often, and handled her all the time as she grew, so she should be used to me like my other mantids. She's also the only female who goes as crazy as she does.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Mime454]

Sounds like you need to spike her water with Valium.

I don't think that there's much you can do here. Maybe hold her more to get her used to humans?

 

[AxolotlsAreCoolToo]

Maybe you can give her a bigger enclosure with things that are very easy to climb

 

[lancaster1313]

You can try giving her a little bit of notice.

I have had Stagmomantis carolina that were easily startled. With them, I found that it helps to move around close to their containers for a couple minutes before touching the container. If there are other containers within view, feed those creatures first. Make a show of bumping around the area gently so that the creature knows what is coming. If you just walk up and pull the sponge, it probably frightens her quite a bit.

You can also give her more and smaller feeders so she won't be so afraid of them.

 

[Malakyoma]

Maybe you can give her a bigger enclosure with things that are very easy to climb

She's already in a 20L with lots of climbing space. I dont think thats the problem.

You can try giving her a little bit of notice.

I have had Stagmomantis carolina that were easily startled. With them, I found that it helps to move around close to their containers for a couple minutes before touching the container. If there are other containers within view, feed those creatures first. Make a show of bumping around the area gently so that the creature knows what is coming. If you just walk up and pull the sponge, it probably frightens her quite a bit.

You can also give her more and smaller feeders so she won't be so afraid of them.

Thats usually what happens but I'll make a point of doing it every time now