Scared of my mantis

[DefyTheNorms]

So, I had an incident a few moments ago. I took my adult Giant Malaysian Shield mantis out like I do at least once a week since I had her as a tiny nymph. (She's the one in my photo). She's always been so calm. Tonight I had her out and when she went to step from one of my hands to another she bit me! It kinda hurt and I pulled my hand away thinking at first it was from her raptors - but no! Suddenly she grabbed on to my fingers with her raptors (one is each arm), bent down and bit my fingertip, and she would not let my fingers go. I am still amazed at how strong they are! The more I tried to get out of her grip the harder she squeezed. Her bite broke skin and she continued to bite in the same spot! I put a piece of paper towel between her and my fingers (it was the closest thing I could use) to keep her from biting me and she was literally ripping at the paper towel with her mouth making holes in it. With my free hand I got a meal worm, she ate it, then another meal worm, then a cricket, all the while she ate it from the tweezers, but would still not let go of my fingers. As soon as she was finished she'd go back to trying to eat my finger! I had to use the tweezers to block her and she was biting at the tweezers. I manage to get her enclosure and tried to get her off my hand, instead she tightened her grip my fingers even harder and as soon as I moved my free hand (which was holding the tweezers that blocked her) to push her off, She chomped down on my finger, blood was dripping and she was still biting, at this point it was probably thought it was delicious. It was beyond painful and I had no choice but to grab her and yank her off. She fell to the bottom and I'm not sure if I hurt her. I feel terrible, but she was literally eating my finger. She's always ate honey and drank water off my hand, could this have caused the issue? I feed her every 2-3 days. Maybe she was just extra hungry? Either way I'm afraid of her now and I know I won't handle her again, nor the others. This makes me sad because this also means l'll likely get to the point where I'll no longer keep mantises. Everything I read said mantises dont' bite and can do very little damage to a human! Certainly not true - I have a throbbing finger with bites taken out to prove it

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

ive had the same problem with an adult giant African mantis She grabbed onto my finger multiple times went to town. Make sure you mantis is fed and wave your hand in front of it. You can tell if its in attack mode (eyes lock on and arms in praying position) or wandering mode (when its arms are wiggling trying to reach for something to grab onto).

If any of my mantises grab onto me i have a stick to block  them from biting me. Once they taste the stick they usually let go. 

Females eat a ton at older ages so feed her till she stops then give it a few days and feed her again. 

 

[River Dane]

That sounds horrifying. But it’s like a dog. It’s scary when they bite, but you can’t let that ruin your passion. If you’re too scared, now, I suggest using gardening gloves covered with dirt. After tasting that, I doubt she’ll bite your hand again. I also read stretching your hand so the skin is flat reduces its “pinch-ability.” This was about hermit crabs, but it might work for mantises, too.

another thing you might want to consider is your behavior. Did you treat her any differently? Did you entice her to bite? Did you have sweat, honey, or water on your finger?

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Sounds like she mistook your fingers for smaller prey. Generally if you move your hand as a whole and pull away they will realize their mistake in taking on something way too big, but sometimes they just don't get it, especially if you are trying to be gentle. My suggestion would be to use something harder like a pencil to place in front of their mandibles. They usually realize pretty quickly they have something inedible if it is harder like that.

My absolute favorite way to deter an attack is one of the soft feather boas. You can easily pull it between their mouth and separate them from what they are trying to eat while still being very gentle. They hate the touch of all the feathers tickling them and even the most persistent of my females relented within seconds. I've never needed to use one to protect myself, but I always have mine on hand when I am breeding. It has saved several of my boys over the years.

 

[bio25]

Maybe im not the most appropiate person to tell it because im new on this, but i hope this dont make you stop keeping mantis because they are wonderfull. 

Maybe was really hungry or smell like mealworms maybe... Hope to see you keeping new ones and sharing everything with us!

 

[DefyTheNorms]

To everyone, I mentioned that I was afraid I may have hurt her last night by ripping her off of my hand, but this morning she was back up top, hanging off her ceiling and seems to be ok. She just ate a super worm. She came to the door opening to come out, like she normally does afterwards, but I won't be leaving her out anymore. I feel bad for her, but I no longer trust her..  My finger tip is sore and swollen this morning  I cleaned it well, but is there anything to be concerned about with a mantis bite?

@PrayingMantisPets I feed her blue bottle flies in her enclosure, but I always take her out to feed her large crickets and mealworms. My mantids just them better when they're out. I'm sure she was hungry as today was feeding day, and I had taken her out to get her food - like I've always done, but she's never once tried to bite me. I eventually used the feeding tongs to block her, but I was still trapped because she still would not loosen the grip on my fingers (she was standing in my palm). She had just did the arm wave thing, but started biting as soon as she got on my other hand.

@River Dane I thought about gloves, but that kinda takes the fun out of it   I tried stretching skin on my fingers, didn't really work plus she still wouldn't let go of my fingers. Even the squeezing from her raptors hurt a bit. I didn't do anything different, and of course I didn't entice her to bite! I take her out and wiggle my fingers above her and she reaches out to get on my higher hand, live we've always done. She normally does this a few times, then she settles down on one of my hands to clean her feet, I feed her, she hangs out and cleans more, and then I put her back. She just suddenly bit me after stepping on to my other hand. The first bite was on the side of my hand which I thought was a pinch from her raptors, but as soon as she got to the palm she latched onto my finger, bend down and bit my fingertip and broke skin with the first bit. There wasn't anything on my hands. 

@Krissim Klaw She definitely mistook my finger as prey. I moved my whole hand, I even t moved it upside down and shook it a bit, but she wouldn't let go, she just kept bitting. I definitely wasn't being gentle because it hurt like ****! Yet I didn't want to hurt her. As for the pencil, I eventually used my feeding tongs, that stopped her from biting me, but she still didn't loosen her grip on my fingers. I was literally stuck in her grasp. and she was biting at the tweezers trying to get to my finger the whole time. Feather boa sounds interesting, tho I'll not be giving her the chance to bite me again.

@bio25 I still think mantises are wonderful. I'll always love them, but keeping something I'm afraid of/nervous of is pointless to me. A big part of what I love about mantis keeping was that interaction/handling them. Maybe she was just extra hungry, but now I'll always worry about it with every mantis I handle, so I just won't handle them. This experience kind of ruined it for me.  Thing is if she had simply bit me that would have been one thing, but because she had my hand trapped in her grasp and continued to bite, I felt attacked. I was shocked at their strength and how hard it was to get this insect off me (without hurting her). It was a horrible experience.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Wow that is crazy, sorry you had to go through that.  I'd feel the same way I'm sure - panicked because it hurts but not wanting to hurt her in the process of getting her off.  Really sorry.

 

[Mantis Lady]

Never heard a mantis could do that. :blink: Not a fun experience to see.  I like handling my mantis too. (She is sitting on my hand while writing this) i have her mostly every day a couple hours out. (except during premolt and after)  Are they more hungry when they are adults?  Mine is subadult I think.

I hope you finger don't get infected and will heal fine, but I can imaginethat you won't  letting her on your hand again. or just do it with gloves like someone sugested.

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

@DefyTheNorms

Here's  a vid of my mantis mistaking my finger as food. She almost got a hold of my finger and i guarantee i would have been in the same situation as you 

i agree with @Krissim Klaw

 

[Krissim Klaw]

@DefyTheNorms

No you were being gentle. You could have gotten her off almost instantly if you had been so inclined, but she might have been injured or killed in the process. A lot of people in your situation would have panicked and injured the mantis, but you took additional bites because you wanted to do whatever you could to remove her while still being as gentle as possible. That sort of consideration tells me you are the sort of person that can recover from this and rediscover your love for the species, because you never truly lost it. Things are fresh right now. Take some time, let the sting in your finger fade before you decide you can no longer enjoy these delightful little creatures. You have experienced the worst the mantis can do and both the mantis and you walked away from it.

 

[Teamonger]

That is crazy. I have had a few of my Chinese mantises grab hold of my fingers and attempt to nom them but never anything this traumatizing. In my case the raptorials hurt way more then the attempted biting as they have crazy sharp pin like spikes. 

I had one female who lost all her tarsi and would cling with her raptorials any time I took her out. I learned quickly to use a thin stick or wooden bbq siskabob stick, slide it in the space at the joint of the raptorial, then use that to carefully lever her off whilst grimacing.

 

[DefyTheNorms]

@Ocelotbren Thanks! And exactly.. I was kinda panicking because as much as she was hurting me, I didn't wan to hurt her. As for my finger, it's still a bit swollen, but feels better than it did yesterday.

@Little Mantis I had no idea either!  I mean I knew they could mistake your finger is food or something and try to grab it, but I had no idea it could be to this extent. I'll probably still handle the smaller ones, but she's a big a girl and I'm not sure if I'll be brave enough to handle her again. It makes me sad because I loved having her out the most.

@PrayingMantisPets Haha! Love the vid! Mine do that too. This bite this was totally unexpected tho. She literally had just stepped onto the palm of my hand and instantly grabbed 2 of my fingers that were pointing up. Maybe one of my fingers moved slightly, if it did I was aware, but probably. I just wasn't prepared for how tightly they can grasp, and how hard they can bite. 

@Teamonger Yes, the raptorial hurt a lot! She was squeezing so hard, but that bite! Wow! I wasn't expecting it. I'll keep a stick nearby if I ever get brave enough to hold her again. I was trying to get her to loosen her grip, but she was biting so hard that my free hand was busy trying to block her mouth. I'm not even being dramatic, I really did feel traumatized by it

 

[DefyTheNorms]

@DefyTheNorms

No you were being gentle. You could have gotten her off almost instantly if you had been so inclined, but she might have been injured or killed in the process. A lot of people in your situation would have panicked and injured the mantis, but you took additional bites because you wanted to do whatever you could to remove her while still being as gentle as possible. That sort of consideration tells me you are the sort of person that can recover from this and rediscover your love for the species, because you never truly lost it. Things are fresh right now. Take some time, let the sting in your finger fade before you decide you can no longer enjoy these delightful little creatures. You have experienced the worst the mantis can do and both the mantis and you walked away from it.

Thank you! What you said actually made me feel a whole lot better! 

 

[DefyTheNorms]

So, I guess I didn't have enough of an eventful week when it comes to mantids lol.. I had a rather stressful morning. I woke up to Little Bug (my budwing mantis) wedged between the terrarium glass and a leaf at the bottom of her enclosure. I'm not sure if she fell down there during molt or if she just started molting in a really inappropriate spot, but her antenna weren't even out of her old skin yet and her head was already touching the ground, and she looked rather dried up. I thought she was dead  

I lifted her out by her back legs and kept looking for signs of life.. THEN I seen her tiny mouth move! I still wasn't sure if she was too dried to complete her molt, but I noticed her trying to wiggle, so I just kept holding her; hoping I wasn't too late... Within a few minutes she had her raptorial arms out, then finally her legs! First photo shows just the end of her butt still in her old skin. It was quite the experience having her molt in my hand! I was both stressed and fascinated, and my arm was tired from holding her up, but 20 minutes later she made it out! 

I managed to get her back in her enclosure to continue drying and to unfold her beautiful adult wings. I'm ecstatic that she survived! I think she's going to be ok. I'm just hoping there isn't internal damage or some sort of injury that I can't see. She is my first ever mantis, and the last of my 5 to become adult. I would have been heartbroken if I'd lost her. She paved the way for my love of mantids, and this experience just renewed it - despite the biting experience that I just had with Femme Fatale.

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Speaking of Femme, I just fed her 2 super worms, then when I offered her a large cricket she attacked the feeding tongs, and I couldn't get them out of her grip without yanking her off the top of the enclosure, so I just held them until she was finished. Afterwards she proceeded to aggressively bite the tongs. I'm not sure why she's become so aggressive?! I love her, but I won't handle her anymore, especially since she just ate 2 super worms and was still so aggressive about eating. Oh well, I'll just work around her    ... I just hope this doesn't indicate sickness or something.

 

[River Dane]

Congratulations on saving Little Bug. Glad to hear she’s helped you past the traumatic experience with your other girl, and I hope she lives a long life. I’m glad she made it. 

Im sorry about Femme Fatale, though. She might be suffering from something, but I don’t know. I’ve only ever thought Mega Mantises got large enough to damage a person’s skin. 

 

[DefyTheNorms]

Congratulations on saving Little Bug. Glad to hear she’s helped you past the traumatic experience with your other girl, and I hope she lives a long life. I’m glad she made it. 

Im sorry about Femme Fatale, though. She might be suffering from something, but I don’t know. I’ve only ever thought Mega Mantises got large enough to damage a person’s skin. 

Thanks!  
Since i'm new to mantises, Im not really sure how big mega mantis get in comparison to giant malaysian shields. I wasn't aware that there were larger mantises!

 

[crabbypatty]

There are species of mantids that tend to be more aggressive than others. The most aggressive I've kept was Giant African aka Sphodromantis lineola. I've noticed that females tend to get extra aggressive close to egg laying time, especially the bigger species. My lineola pinched my sweater one time and left several holes in it. My basalis was aggressive as well during breeding time. I've never had issues with gongy, or some of the smaller mantis species. Just in case though, I have a stick and tweezers nearby to place in front of their mouths so they let go asap. I'm always very wary with adult females, you never know. If you're scared of your bigger ones, don't give up on the hobby, just try little ones and slowly go up again. It's rare that they attack, I've been pinched twice. Good luck ?.

 

[DefyTheNorms]

@crabbypatty I know what you mean, I have 2 African's. Neither have ever bit me, but I rarely handle them because they seem a bit more skittish as well. They freak out when I try to get them out of their enclosures, so I just leave them be. Now they are both adults, so probably big enough to bite. When my basalis grabbed me, she just bit on the tweezers and still would not let go   I have an itty bitty jeweled flower mantis and a budwing  both of which I still handle. My Basalis and budwing are the 2 I handled the most as they actually look to come out. My tiny jeweled flower mantis is a pain to get out, so I stick with my budwing as she's outgoing and not too big.

 

[izbiggs]

One time with my one of my africans I decided to feed her using my fingers as tweezers (I know, dumb). She went for the prey, but her raptors pierced my skin and sank into my finger. I was lucky she was just eating the prey instead of biting me!

I'm sorry that it was so traumatizing with your mantis, and I'm glad that your budwing is renewing your faith in these little creatures.