Religiosa female too big?

H_Ercule_S · Sep 28, 2015

At the beginning of the summer I found a religiosa female that was so large she covered the palm of my hand and extended onto my fingers. Without a measuring tape on hand right now her size is around 4 inches excluding antennae. When I found her I believed she had just eaten another mantis, most likely a male after breeding, as she had an extremely engorged abdomen for that point in the wild mantis breeding season. She would not accept food even after a week and I was early in my experience for caring for mantids, so I released her. She recently appeared again after around a month in the exact spot I released her, and again she had a very large abdomen, but it looks different from the first time now so I assume she's got a couple dozen in the oven... She is now in a 10 galon tank with live and fake plants and sticks, accepting a cricket every time I feed her every few days.

There is a problem, though, in my opinion. Unlike my two other pregnant females (Baby actually just recently layed an ooth!) she has an extremely hard time staying upright and clinging to obstacles, real or fake. I check on her every hour or so when I am home and she is on her back in the dirt most times I check on her. I have also not seen her climb more than a few inches off the ground, with her wing tips crushed into the dirt. I don't know if there is anything I can do for her, as I suspect this behavior may result in not being able to properly lay an ooth. Anyone know what I can do?

Domanating · Sep 30, 2015

I'd love to see a pic of that mantis

mantiseater · Sep 30, 2015

im pretty sure it is tenodera sinesis at this size

H_Ercule_S · Oct 4, 2015

Unfortunately she didn't survive a fall onto her back when I was asleep one night, which is odd because after I saw her having movement troubles I adjusted most of her foliage to be the same length as her body from the ground in her tank. I righted her in the morning and tried to make her move with no success, so after a few tries later throughout the day she visited the freezer to be sure and the compost bin

. I remember her body was completely dark tan with no green like Chinese mantises, and her shield wasn't as long as the pictures I can find online. She was also not as big as the pictures I can find, however I have heard there are actually two other species here aside from religiosa's. My opinion as to the cause of her sluggishness before she passed is that she actually was a religiosa or hybrid that grew too big and had complications from it, just like other species that outgrow their kin, but I'm obviously no expert that's just what I think happened. I don't even know if T. Sinensis and Religiosa can cross-breed to be honest.