recently i noticed my male mantis had missing part of one of its back legs the sticky pad part and noticed there was no insects in the container with it capable of doing this to the mantis other then a dead fly which i doubt flies could do such damage and well is it common or not that a mantis would chew part of its own leg off even it looks totally healthy and nothing out of the ordinary!
self mutilation
- Thread starter massaman
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In that case it probably broke off somehow. Losing the ends of the legs is not uncommon. However, sometimes they will chew part of themselves off if something is wrong with it. But in your case I bet it just broke off. Very old mantids sometimes lose the ends of their legs too.
My mom caught one once and the lid grabbed one foot and it came off the mantis.
Bad Mummy!
Opivy
Well-known member
my first and only mantis I ever had fell completely apart! do you think this could be similar? I always thought the crickets ganged up on him.
revmdn
Well-known member
Crickets, for sure. Shouldn't place too many in at a time, and no food around molting time.
worldofmantis
Well-known member
i left a cricket in the cage with a subadult giant asian mantis i had and when i came back he had tryed to molt, the cricket nocked him off the side of the cage and had already eaten half of his head.
OGIGA
Dead Leaf Mantis
Another reason for losing body parts is age. They just dry up and things chip off.
YES ! CRICKETS ARE EVIL !i left a cricket in the cage with a subadult giant asian mantis i had and when i came back he had tryed to molt, the cricket nocked him off the side of the cage and had already eaten half of his head.
If you notice if you buy a bag of 20 crickets and EVEN with a potatoes in the area, over night 1/2 will be eaten...
PhilinYuma
Well-known member
QUOTE (Ghozt @ Jan 28 2010, 01:07 PM)
YES ! CRICKETS ARE EVIL !
If you notice if you buy a bag of 20 crickets and EVEN with a potatoes in the area, over night 1/2 will be eaten...
That does not sound right.
I think that Ghozt put his crix in a container with some potato (slices, I presume/hope!) but still the crix ate half of their number. I wonder if they were of very mixed sizes. Sometimes it helps to put in dog or cat food to provide some animal protein.
YES ! CRICKETS ARE EVIL !
If you notice if you buy a bag of 20 crickets and EVEN with a potatoes in the area, over night 1/2 will be eaten...
That does not sound right.
I think that Ghozt put his crix in a container with some potato (slices, I presume/hope!) but still the crix ate half of their number. I wonder if they were of very mixed sizes. Sometimes it helps to put in dog or cat food to provide some animal protein.
No1left4jocker
Active member
Question then, assuming that the mantis ate it off for reasons of damaged limb will the piece grow back? Or will it have to learn to walk on it? I saw my orchid nawing on her back right leg today and when i finally reached over to touch her butt she was missing the sticky pad part. I know shes not hungry i have a fly walking around her container and she just pushes it away. So besides damaged limb this is common for them to do, and will it grow back?
If the mantis is not an adult and has enough molts left it will grow back. Please introduce yourself in the introductions forum.
