Will mantises over-eat?

[Melophile]

I recently bought an acromantis japonica, and she is an aggressive mantis. I own Carolinas and they won't eat anything larger than themselves due to being non-aggressive. I also own Chinese mantises, and they also aren't that aggressive and won't eat anything larger than themselves. My Japanese boxer mantis, however, will eat anything and everything she lays her eyes upon. There hasn't been a time where she hasn't stopped eating unless I stopped myself from feeding her. If there is a moving prey in her enclosure, she will eat it. I've never owned such an aggressive mantis and was wondering if it's possible for a mantis to over-eat and become ill from doing so? I just caught a cockroach about the same size as her and she ate the entire thing even though I fed her 10-15 drosophila hydei before I went to work. I'm probably going to stop feeding her for the next couple days, I don't want her to explode.

 

[LAME]

Ive always been told they will stop when they're full, ive also never had a mantis die from overeating.

But its probably a good idea to let her chill out for a day or two... Or three.

 

[Mantis Man13]

Actually one of your mantises could die from overeating. Not in the sense you are thinking but the fact that if a mantis is too full and it molts there could be a greater chance that it falls from the molt and mismolts. Just make sure to keep your mantises pleasantly full so that their abdomen isn't overly bulging.

 

[CosbyArt]

Indeed they can, although it won't kill them directly (that I know of), it can cause their death.

If the mantids abdomen are too engorged it can easily rupture if the mantid falls, hits it too hard, or is attacked or mated with another mantid. It can also bend the abdomen due to the excessive weight, which will lead to a mantid unable to eat or defecate properly if at all again. Those are two common results I've seen here on forum posts, and once myself.

I recommend you feed them and watch that their abdomens reach a nice slightly plump size, once reached feed again in another 2 to 3 days (or once the abdomen has shrunk slightly).