r/mantids

I found my cat eye on the floor of her enclosure on her side, she was responsive so I’ve picked her up and she seems to have no energy, she’s moving but it’s slow, she’s holding herself up when she hangs but can’t hold herself up properly as she walks. She had became a bit lethargic over the last few days but is Premolt so I had chalked it up to that. She’s had an enclosure upgrade around a week ago and got all new soil, and fake wood. Her temps have been on the low range (25-27c), humidity 40% ish.

He/She molted less than 24 hours later. Now it’s chilling. I can’t wait to get a better look at its abdomen and see if it’s a boy or girl. Will attach some photos below

Edit: Sorry the video is so bright, it’s all the grow lights for my plants :P

This was in late summer 2020, i worked an outside job and was fighting the good fight against the invasive spotted lantern fly. I saw this mantis hanging out so i got one for her and she devoured it. A week later she was still in the same area (i was monitoring her presence the whole time) and found her laying her egg sack. Later that day she was dead a few inches away

I put a note on the door so people were aware of the ootheca (there was no tenant in the building space at the time luckily) and they did hatch successfully

So, my Bug is dying.

He was about to do his final molt today. This morning he threw up, and then was hanging from a branch with one leg off it. I know I startled him once and then he moved twice to new places. Each time he was stretching his back legs and hanging by the front legs. Eventually he fell off the mesh top and landed upside down on a leaf which is where I intervened.

Temp was 23C to 26C all day and the humidity was between 70 and 90 all day.

He ate a bluebottle fly 2 days ago. And his abdomen has gone black over the course of the day/ night of the molt.

I really loved the lil guy and im very sad, so please go easy on feedback but I do want to know where I went wrong.

Hi chat!! I'm planning on getting a female orchid mantis and I purchased this little box for her (I'm going to attach the net for her to hang from soon so dw!) and I'm just wondering if the dirt she has in right now (if anyone can tell what it is lmao) would be okay. Does the substrate matter when it comes to mantis care? Or maybe is there a type that I should get for her well-being? If anyone has problems identyfing what kind of 'dirt' it is, I have no problem purchasing more dirt and essentially just throwing out this and putting in new one. I want to make 100% sure that she's going to be comfy in her temporary home, that's why it's so small :)

Just noticed her like this, is she going to be ok? Should i help her?

Hey! My girl moulted the day before yesterday after a significant wait (3 months), and now has a little black mark—which I’ve read is the colour their ovipositor turns in the subadult stage? not sure if that’s true—and what appear to be wing buds. Is she a subadult already? I expected this to be only instar i5/6! She’s about 3-3.5cm long.

Do they start getting wing buds this early or should I expect this next moult to be her last?

Is there anyone out there smarter than me that can gender my mantis ? I'm leaning towards female but I don't know if I counted correctly

I’m afraid to feed crickets because I hear they fight back and I don’t want her to get injured - I know they come in smaller sizes, but I’m only able to source medium/large ones. My self sustained bottle fly colony has been decimated, between her and her larger sister eating two flies every 2-3 days.

Emmy is my first praying mantis, and I’m curious to know if they’re too young to tell yet?? They’re a Chinese praying mantis if that helps!!

My friend's rhomobodera-stalii is spitting up what appears to be blood. The mantis is very new, she arrived a couple of days ago, and has been fed those mini cockroaches as far as I'm aware. Is there anything that could be done to nurse it back to health? I've never had any contact with this species, any help would be much appreciated.