mantis ate substrate!

i caught a small brown moth to feed to my mantis. after i threw it in the moth landed on the bottom of the cage which is covered with peat moss. the mantis saw me throw it in and right away started going after it. the moth lay motionless and the mantis stopped half way down the branch. i got impatient and decided to mist the moth to make him move. the moth was very fast and fluttered around the cage. the mantis striked and missed! instead he picked up a chunk of peat moss and began to eat the substrate! :shock:

i misted the moth again. the mantis dropped the moss and finally caught the moth.

have any of your mantids done this before? i thought he would know the difference between moss and moth. :lol:

Yeah, ive seen em do it before. Its nothing to worry about. :wink:

Thanks,

Andrew

Thanks,

Andrew

Yeah see that all the time. They just think it's the food they've grabbed.

yeah...I have that happen to mine, I dont think it will do them any harm.

Cheers,

Ian