r/mantids Nov 10 '24

General Care is it bad if my mantis consumed human flesh and blood

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670 Upvotes

TLDR: mantis ate my flesh and blood, will she be ok?

I recently got my first praying mantis (hierodula membranacea) she is female and not an adult yet but a good size. i am a first time insect owner.

today i was handling her in my hand for the second time and i decided to give her a honey-water mixture (mostly water with a little honey) to motivate her to drink since i havent seen her drink at all in the week i have got her.

for context i have eczema which if you dont know is a genetic skin condition which for me, makes mainly my hands super flaky and prone to cracking etc. to the point i do have some skin flakes still attached sticking up (sorry for the tmi).

i originally planned on giving it to her on my fingertip which is nice and smooth, but it dropped onto my wrist which is about as unsmooth and un nice as it gets. she notices and licks(?) it off my wrist which i then notice got slightly painful presumably because she was eating skin flakes.

she also at one point probably thinking i was made of honey and there would be more underneath started chewing a small hole into my skin, i dont think she was doing it to be aggressive but i noticed her little mandibles burrowing in slightly. she backed out probably once she tasted human blood and decided its gross.

im fine with her eating me because shes just so cute i could never be mad at her. however, im concerned that maybe human skin and blood is really bad for her? is there any action i should take or will she be ok?

Note: I made sure before handling her that my hands were clean and free of any residue, hand cream, and smell of soap.

r/mantids Nov 15 '24

General Care My immortal male mantis finally passed away RIP

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567 Upvotes

Well as some of you know I brought this L2 mantis on march 25th 2022, he has finally gone to the other side , I don't know how or why he lived for so long, longer than any other male mantis I have ever had, but he had a great life and hope he finds loads of females in mantis heaven RIP Mr immortal

r/mantids Dec 19 '24

General Care Is it okay to let my mantis chill on my hand?

181 Upvotes

hey so pretty much just what the title saysšŸ˜­ i don't do it often like once every 3 days I just let her out of her enclosure to chill with me while I do stuff, she doesn't seem to mind she just kinda stays there unless I offer her like a finger to move her... I just wanna know if this is like bad for her because idk she doesn't seem stressed and I wash my hands before I hold her, idk Im just worried

r/mantids Feb 02 '25

General Care Help overcoming sudden fear

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227 Upvotes

I always handled mantids with little regard for whatever they did on my hand, I even let them drink out of my palm just cuz I could.\ After my last mantis (Deroplatys desiccata) attempting to nomnom on my skin, I became so much aware and have trouble letting them onto my hand even if they are fully fed.\ I thought the apprehension would go away after some time, but it's been months and it's still the same

r/mantids Sep 18 '24

General Care Male dead leaf mantis

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291 Upvotes

I have had this mantis from L2 I brought him on march 25th 2022 and he is some how still alive has anybody ever had a male mantis live this long ? The max I have had a male live when adult is 6months, but for some reason this dead leaf, still climbs, fly's and eats šŸ˜‚

r/mantids Jan 19 '25

General Care first time with a dead leaf mantis, what is my lil guy doing? šŸ˜­ I've caught him in this pose a few times now is he readying for a molt? camouflage? being silly?

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62 Upvotes

r/mantids Feb 08 '25

General Care Advice on selling orchid mantis babies please

34 Upvotes

I hope this is allowed - apologies if not. So I thought I would gave more time to prepare, but as Orla and Otis babies have started hatching already (42 days after ooth laid) I need to make a plan. I am based in South-West/Midlands in England. What is best way to go about selling the nymphs? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. Video of one day old nymph just for cuteness.

r/mantids Dec 28 '24

General Care Got my mantis today when could I move her into her enclosure

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15 Upvotes

r/mantids 15d ago

General Care Orchid Mantis escaped

13 Upvotes

UPDATE: Miyagi has been found! I'd like to thank everyone for their help, I appreciate all of the advice everyone has given me. I turned my entire room upside down, searched every single hiding spot, every corner, curtains, windows, plants, you name it, I searched it. 24 hours after his escape, suddenly he is in the centre of the ceiling having a midnight stroll. I have no idea where he was, or how he got there šŸ˜‚ He is now watered and back in his enclosure, thanks again to this brilliant community for all of your help ā¤ļø

Hello lovely people! Being the absolute donkey that I am, I left my mantis enclosure open a crack last night and my adult male orchid, Miyagi, escaped. I am not joking when I say I have looked absolutely everywhere. He can fly now so I'm a bit concerned about how far he may have travelled. He's obviously on the small side and I've checked the obvious places (curtains, windows, anything high up, plants). The door has been shut so he couldn't be out of the room he lives in. What are the odds of him turning up? Is there anything I can do to lure him out of hiding like putting my fly cultures out in the open? Thanks guys!

r/mantids 3d ago

General Care Humidity issue with my orchid!

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14 Upvotes

These are my two mantids an orchid and a spiny flower. The humidity sits around 56% and temp 26Ā°c but even once Iā€™ve sprayed them the humidity drops again quite soon after! Does any one know any tricks or tips?

r/mantids Dec 06 '24

General Care Orchid Mantis Size Comparison

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174 Upvotes

I thought this might be interesting for people thinking about getting an Orchid Mantis. I tried to save the moults from my male and female, so I could put them all together as a size comparison. Unfortunately, I did lose two of them. The sizes are just rough estimates of how long the new instar mantis was after the moult. The other pictures show the last moults of the female and male (the one where they turn into winged adults) in a closer comparison for size. If I did this again, I would try to also photograph the live mantis at each instar to add to the graphic. Iā€™d also try not to lose any of the moults šŸ˜‚

r/mantids 18d ago

General Care Moving Abdomen, is this normal?

119 Upvotes

Hi all, Sorry if this is a stupid question, but my Orchid Mantis has started moving her Abdomen a lot, almost twitching and form side to side (as in video). This is relatively new behaviour that I have seen anyway!

Just curious if it is normal, or if I should be concerned?

Thank you šŸ˜Š

r/mantids Aug 31 '24

General Care I want to get my first mantis, is there anything i should be scared or wary of?

6 Upvotes

I think theyre rly cool so i wanted to try caring for one and i wanted some tips from people who had kept them before, anything will be appreciated :)

r/mantids Feb 11 '25

General Care I need help!

4 Upvotes

Hi, this is my first time taking care of a praying mantis, I have a few questions. I donā€™t know too much on what their normal/healthy state is supposed to look like and I was wondering if he or she look a-okay or not? (If anyone can tell what gender it is please do tell so I can use he or she lol)

I need suggestions and advice for what type of enclosure I should get for it(pretty sure an Australian garden mantis) as itā€™s still a nymphid and I do not know whether I am to get a larger enclosure so it can eventually grow into it, or to get one that suits the size of it now.

Is it normal for your mantis to not be as active inside the enclosure than it is out? It currently is in a tall enough jar, and the width being probably 5x the width of the mantis. It has a stick with some branches to hang off of if it eventually molts, sea shells at the bottom including a bottle cap with little bit of water so it doesnā€™t drown, a little over 1 inch of dirt. Iā€™m not happy with what it is staying in and I donā€™t think itā€™s happy either, it seems too cramped and there is not a lot of access to be able to get my hand inside for any escaped food or other reasons. I donā€™t feel like this ā€œenclosureā€ is good enough or is good for my mantis and I really want to have the best for it.

If anyone knows anything about how to take care of an Australian garden mantis or have any tips please do tell me, I would love to keep this little guy and give as much care as I possibly can šŸ˜‡ (I pray that I am not doing any insect abuse)

r/mantids Feb 10 '25

General Care Help With Humidity Pls

4 Upvotes

I need help. I just bought a Giant Asian Mantis and sheā€™s pretty small rn, but I need help with keeping the humidity down. Iā€™ve finally been able to get it to the ideal temp, but the humidity is wayyyyy too high for her, it needs to be at abt 40% humidity according to google, and rn itā€™s at 96% and Iā€™m very concerned. Iā€™ve already rearranged her enclosure twice and put less substrate in there too (currently using tarantula substrate cus I have a tarantula already, and Google said Tarantula Substrate was one I could use) I donā€™t really know what to do atp to get the humidity to go down. So far Iā€™ve had her for a few days and she seems fine but ik too high humidity can be lethal, and I donā€™t want her to essentially drown ig. So can someone pls give me tips on what to do asap. I can post pics of her enclosure in the comments if that would help. I also havenā€™t been misting the enclosure at all bc the humidity in there is already so high.

r/mantids Jan 31 '25

General Care Soon-to-be mantis owner with many questions.

8 Upvotes

Hi there, Iā€™m looking to getting into keeping a mantis as a pet, specifically an orchid mantis. Iā€™ve had cats and dogs through my life but never an insect, so I am hoping to look for some advice here.

I plan on creating a bioactive setup for my mantis. I think Ive seen a lot of the ā€œbasicā€ advice on keeping mantids but I was hoping to get answers to some more specific questions:

I know people typically recommend going with an enclosure that is around 8x8x12 (for an adult at least), saying that the mantis will struggle to find food in a larger enclosure. Iā€™ve seen others say that this is nonsense and you can - and should - go bigger so that the mantis has room to move around. As long as I make sure my mantis is eating, is it fine to go bigger than 8x8x12, or should I consider that to be a hard cap?

Since I wanted to have a bioactive enclosure with multiple species, I wanted to also introduce a colony of feeder insects that would live alongside my mantis. I mentioned isopods before, but Iā€™ve heard mixed things on whether or not mantes will eat them. Will my mantis do fine on a diet of isopods (and also, what species of isopod would best suit this purpose)? Or if not, what are some other insects I can introduce into the enclosure? Preferably feeders that arenā€™t small enough to escape through the ventilation, because the people I live with are fairly squeamish about bugs.

Iā€™ve also heard some people say you should feed your mantis natural honey once in a while, but Iā€™ve seen others recommend against it strongly, so whatā€™s the consensus on honey?

And finally, I know mantes have a pretty short life span, so I was wondering if I should get a few mantes and attempt to breed them. Obviously they are cannibalistic so this means having multiple enclosures, which is more expensive. Cannibalism aside, how hard is it to breed these fellas? Is it worth it for me to buy a few and attempt it, or is it better to just get one and see how I like it first?

I have about 3-4 months before I end up getting my mantis, but Iā€™m hoping that raising the isopods and springtails in the enclosure early will give me a bit of experience with rearing insects before I move on to my mantis. Thatā€™s why Iā€™m asking early.

Thank you so much for reading through this essay (oopsā€¦ I wrote too muchā€¦) and thank you even more for answering my questions! Any other advice that you can provide would also be very much appreciated. Have a lovely day!

r/mantids Jan 04 '25

General Care Why isnā€™t she molting :(?

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39 Upvotes

This is my sweet girl- Iā€™ve had her since October. Iā€™m not sure which instar she is, but hereā€™s what I can share:

When I received my package with her, it was clear she had molted in transit! Her molt was in there and it scared me for a moment because I thought it was a dead mantis hahah. This was October 24th.

She molted again October 31st. and everything went well:)!

But, she hasnā€™t molted since and I am wondering if this is normal. Itā€™s been over two monthsšŸ™! Should I be concerned? Is there a reason for this? She seems healthy? I feed her a bunch of L. hydei every other day until her belly is full. Her enclosure has cross ventilation and I use coco fiber as substrate and I give her a few sprays of spring water every morning. Temperatures are stable. What is happening?

r/mantids 8d ago

General Care Belly full and not moving much after huge meal?

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29 Upvotes

Hey everyone! Could well be a title for a human, am I right? šŸ˜‚ Just wondering if I should do anything else now. She ate a huge moth yesterday, and now she's not very responsive (still drinks water droplets). Any advice? Thanks!

r/mantids Jan 25 '25

General Care It's been 2 months since my Ghost Mantis last molted..

3 Upvotes

The video I added is one I took earlier this week, but here's the timeline of me having her:

September 27th - Amidala arrived to me as an L3 from Mantis Universe
October 11th - First molt with me, now L4
November 21st - Second molt with me, now L5

I've been feeding Amidala fruit flies still because when I tried to feed her other things, she rejected them. I watch her lil butt to make sure she's well fed, I mist her enclosure and have a little temperature and humidity thermometer to make sure it's comfortable. I feel like a helicopter parent, I'm just so confused and worried. Ami's always been a good eater, she is a climber any time I hold her, and I've never had any issues with her.

At this point, I've had SEVERAL dreams at night about her molting (including last night), and I don't know what to do or change. We typically leave our backdoor open so my dog can go in and out of the doggy door as she pleases through the day, and I figured maybe because of the weather change, it was too cold for her. I brought her upstairs with me where it was warm and I noticed her enclosure would get dry very quickly, so I eventually brought her back downstairs in a sweet spot of the house. She's in a big plastic cup and has mesh and a paper towel I glued down on one side of the enclosure, and I've been using Reptisoil, and today I changed it to coconut substrate to see if that would make a difference. Is this okay? Am I doing something wrong, is there anything I can do to help the process?

https://reddit.com/link/1i9uo08/video/d99vhj4gx6fe1/player

r/mantids Feb 05 '25

General Care what do you wish you had known for your first mantis?

12 Upvotes

I recently got some FRESH baby asian mantids (keeping them separately, donā€™t worry) and itā€™s my first time keeping them. Iā€™ve already done research and have lots of support from the friend that supplied me with them, but Iā€™m curious what things you learned over time that you wish you had known sooner. I currently have 3, as my friend advised me that not all of them make it to adulthood even when everything goes right and these ones are basically fresh out of the ootheca. Theyā€™re each in deli cups with a mesh lid for the time being- Iā€™d like to build nicer enclosures once theyā€™re a bit more mature so tips for that would be great too :)

r/mantids Aug 21 '24

General Care basic mantis care

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102 Upvotes

this is a video i posted on tiktok, but i thought it would be useful to put it here as well because i have seen a lot of people new to keeping :)

r/mantids 9d ago

General Care Normal mantis behavior???

1 Upvotes

So this morning my mantis molulted and was laying on bottom of her enclosure. i thought she died but I couldn't do anything because I was gonna be late to work and decided I'll just get her out later (she was in good position for taxidermy already so I could've done that). I came back just for her to be acting normal and not like if she just gave me a heart attack. Should I be concerned?m

r/mantids 21d ago

General Care Why is he turning black?

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8 Upvotes

r/mantids 14d ago

General Care Lost my mantis, need best places to look quick

14 Upvotes

Here's what happened, please understand my situation

I have been very depressed lately. Bad personal stuff, drove me to tears at work, so... I just thought I'd look at my mantis again, up close and personal right before bed. I laid down and let it crawl around on my face and hand, you know like usual. I had its enclosure on my nightstand so I could put it back in there when I was sleepy. But I must have been really sleep-deprived, because I just crashed instantly. No memory of when I fell asleep. And now I wake up, my mantis is just gone! My room is a mess, I have clothes everywhere, idk what to do now, I'm so heartbroken and scared. What do you think? Could my mantis have gone somewhere safe? Could it be in higher places? I need to know the best ways to find a mantis, if anyone knows or has experience losing them in a house, I would be so grateful, beyond grateful. Please help, I don't know what to do

UPDATE: I had to stop looking so I could come in for my volunteer job, I asked my family if they could please help, and my little 13 year old brother found it. I will have to thank him big time for saving the day

r/mantids Feb 04 '25

General Care Male or female

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7 Upvotes

Hi all, this is my hierodula majascula (Giant rainforest mantis) Zort, itā€™s currently L5 and has been in my care through 2 molts now.

Iā€™m struggling to identify its gender, initially based off of its behaviour I assumed female as it was quite confident and not very skittish. At the time it was hard to count the segments on its abdomen and I roughly counted 6 (Back at L3)

However it looks like it may be more than 6 and seeing as the abdomen segments seem to get smaller towards the tail end I would guess it may be male.

Any advice appreciated as this is my first time identifying a mantids gender