Too lazy to eat?

[emr4307]

Hello all,

I started looking after a mantis religiosa a few weeks ago. It seems to be quite comfortable in general but lately it seems to have lost its appetite (or something). I have watched it devour lots of spiders and small bugs so far, but in the past 3 days or so, it doesn't seem to take an interest in the bugs that I put in its cage. I even saw it step on one and still not take notice of it. Do you think I should be worried? Is there a way for me to get him to eat? Maybe there's too many leaves in the cage and he just can't notice the bug? I have kept mantises as pets when I was growing up but this is the first one I've kept in a really long time, so I'm a novice and all help is appreciated.

Also, I'm not sure if mantises can see in the dark. (Feel free to make fun of that remark.) Should the cage receive some sort of light at nights?

Thanks,

-Emre.

 

[kitkat39]

Sometimes you can cut up food and put the juicy part of the bug by it's mouth. Once it starts to nibble on it, it may grab it and continue eating.

 

[LauraMG]

Is it an adult? Because if it's not I would say it's getting ready to molt. If it is, than I agree with kitkat.

 

[hibiscusmile]

If adult and male, they dont eat but about 3 times a week, if adult female, prob going to lay an ooth.

 

[PhilinYuma]

If adult and male, they dont eat but about 3 times a week, if adult female, prob going to lay an ooth.

As usual, that sounds right to me. No one will arrest you if you start chopping up critters and putting the bleeding part next to the mantid's jaws, but if the mantis is uninjured, this sounds like one of the more senseless popular activities in our hobby. Mantises never become "too lazy" or too nervous, or too confused or too depressed to eat. They eat when they are hungry. If it is an adult male, though, it is also possible at this time of year that it is dying. If that is the case, your husbandry is not to blame.

 

[ismart]

Sounds like it's full! If it's abdomen is not paper thin than it's fine. A night, and day cycle is best.