Yoga pose

[chrisbrock]

Sometimes when I walk by, Manny is stretched out real low with his arms extended in front of him. I've been assuming this was him 'stretching' his skin in preparation for a molt. Well, he molted about a week ago, and he's started doing it already. Any idea what this pose is for. He couldn't possibly catch food like this, since his arms are straight in front of him.

chris

 

[chrisbrock]

Also, sometimes when I walk by, he shakes his head and arms violently. It looks a lot like me when I first wake up. Do Mantids sleep? And if they do, do they wake up by shaking themselves?

 

[Asa]

Seems a bit weird. Don't worry too much about it. Mantids don't sleep.

 

[Rob Byatt]

It's simply tyring to hold itself as close as possible to what ever it is hanging on. It's a basic form of camouflage.

 

[Rick]

What Rob said. He is laying low to prevent being seen. I see chinese in the wild here do it all the time.

 

[chrisbrock]

Hey, thanks for the input. I think most of the fun in raising this guy is trying to understand why he does the things he does

 

[Ian]

This seems to be the position that my Danuria species always sit in.

 

[Jenn]

My Orchids do that too.

 

[buddhistsoldier88]

well that explains the position, but what about the "violent shaking"?

 

[Asa]

That's usually related to moulting

 

[xenuwantsyou]

My mantids do it all the time, and they're all adults now. I always figured it was akin to when you just randomly twitch.