r/mantids

Hi everyone, good evening. I chose the orchid mantis as my first mantis; I've had her for about 4 or 5 days. She’s quite active—though she hasn't moved much in the last two days—and has a healthy appetite; I feed her about four fruit flies, checking her abdomen to see if she's hungry. She’s housed in a 20x20x30 Exo Terra enclosure set up with a clay and coconut fiber substrate. Since she’s still in an early stage of development, I hand-feed her using tweezers. Humidity is at 60–70% and the temperature is around 24°C. I need some advice because the plants have started to wilt, even though I mist the enclosure once a day with two sprays. I suspect the heat mat placed underneath is heating the soil too quickly, affecting the plants. I also have a small LED lamp positioned above that stays on all day, and I think it might be too much light for the plants. I’d appreciate any advice.

As you can see from the photos, the plants have started to wilt; there is visible condensation along the edges of the soil, yet the center is dry. I only noticed this today because, seeing the condensation, I assumed the moisture level was uniform throughout the soil, failing to account for the heat radiating from the mat positioned underneath the center.

As you can see, my little one is in the early stages of growth, and—as I’ve already mentioned—I am aware that she is currently too small for this space; however, I hand-feed her, and she seems to like this habitat.

PS. I took the photo right after misting the enclosure.

Thank you for reading and for your time I really appreciate the advice.

Found this guy today on my parents back porch, or, rather, it decided to find me by crawling across my foot.
What’s going on with its abdomen? Parasite activity? Bad molt? Can I do anything to help it, or provide end of life care? Help.

(This is a temporary enclosure until I get back home to my place)

Another stunning close up for the mantis appreciators, this is my Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi, Miss Ducky! She’s still growing out of her baby colours 🖤

She is the epitome of kitten software in insect hardware 😍

My first orchid mantis! I know it’s a big tank but I put her in a separate enclosure for feeding if anyone is worried, she’s pretty mellow for an orchid!

Edit: it has cross ventilation. I covered the metal mesh with tulle fabric. I live in a warm area so heating is unnecessary.
All these issues were addressed before putting the orchid in and before making the post.

People in the comments, while rightfully concerned about my mantis’s welfare, were incorrect about the quality of her care.

If anyone can see a problem with her care that was not correctly addressed please dm me and I will add it into the post.

I did months of research before getting this mantis!!!

They are fed every other day, enclosures are misted regularly, humidity is within range, and yet they wont stop running around! Is this normal? Im not sure what else to do!

Do they migrate in the fall cuz that’s the only time I see them in northern Illinois

My orchid mantis is about 11 months old and I guess I’m finding out that he is a she. They started squirting this white ooze on a branch, which apparently is an egg sack. But Stack has been the only mantis in this enclosure pretty much their entire life (Smoke died in a molt at like 3 months).

Is this a miracle birth? What’s happening?

So my shield mantis has been doing this for the past week or so,she's been more agressive too and i dont know what to do.

My coworker found this one outside our work. Usually we only see the green ones, so this was a pleasant surprise!

I was kind of tempted to set up a terrarium at home for the dude, but ofc thought better & let it be :)

Found in west Allis WI. What species is it?