# How do i know when my mantis will die?



## JacenBeers (Oct 28, 2002)

Today I noticed that my fullgrown mantis has a brown arm. I mean one of the long reaching arms that it grasps prey with. It has turned brown and become practically useless. It has a few brownspots elsewhere as well. Is this a sign that it is coming to its end?  What are the other signs?


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## Wade (Oct 29, 2002)

It may seem more listless, and less able to hold it's abdomen up. It also may not be able to hold it's wings folded up.

I have seen mantids that are too weak to stand feed if the cricket is given directly to them. Predators to the end.

Wade


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## JacenBeers (Oct 29, 2002)

But what do the brown spots mean?


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## Wade (Oct 30, 2002)

I'm not sure what actually causes them, but IME it does mean the end is near, I'm afraid.

Wade


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## Valael (Oct 30, 2002)

I guess that's good to know --  Atleast now I know WHY my wild cought mantis died.  I guess I did care for it the right way.


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## JacenBeers (Nov 1, 2002)

She died.


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## Vys (Nov 1, 2002)

Having pets die on you is never fun .
Give her a nice funeral


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## JacenBeers (Nov 1, 2002)

I would prefer not to describe her funeral you may bne offended.


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## MrT (Nov 1, 2002)

Mines funeral was in the belly of my Az. blonde T.

Why waist the meal. IMO

Hope that doesnt sound mean.

E


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## Valael (Nov 2, 2002)

Eh, I just dumped mine in the flower bed after freezing it.  (It was on it's last legs, it couldn't even stand.  I figured it was the nice thing to do.)


Didn't want to risk giving a possibly containimated bug to a T


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## krystal (Nov 10, 2002)

my daughter, kerith, and i, along with the neighborhood kids, caught a mantis around a month ago.  we kept it for a while, laughed at how it moved, and eventually let it go.  i love their eyes--the dark spots make it look as if they are following you wherever you go.

what would one feed a mantis?  i dropped a few crickets into the enclosure we were keeping it in (a 5 gal petpal).  also, what is "normal" mantis behavior (aside from roaming free in our backyard)?  for the most part, it stayed up by the airholes at the lid.  was it devising an escape plan, or did it miss the breeze or something?  in any event, after letting it go, i immediately regretted my decision.  oh well, one day, i'll catch another one.


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## Joanie (Nov 11, 2002)

I kept a mantis for a few months this summer (she just died this week) and I fed her crickets and waxworms using long tweezers.  She was really enthusiastic about this diet, and had no problem taking the prey from tweezers.  Mine spent most of her time hanging upside down from the cage-top too (probably for the ventilation) but after I put her cage next to my pond tank, she became obsessed with watching the crayfish.  It was like mantis TV.

She also left me an ootheca, so hopefully I'll be raising her offspring soon!

JOANIE


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## Wade (Nov 13, 2002)

Nice to see you here, Joanie!

I think that hanging upside down is pretty normal behaviour for mantids (although they do seem to prefer spot with good airflow). We tend to encounter them when they happen to be rightside up on top of a plant, but much of the time they're probably hanging out upside down underneath the leaves. Subsequently, they're less visible to us.

Wade


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## JacenBeers (Nov 22, 2002)

Mine was massive. I think it was about 6 inches long at full growth. I fed it about 15 crickets a week and I fed it some caterpillars, some moths and even two pinkie mice. It was a cool pet and when they come back into season I will be getting one again. I fed mine to my Rosehair.  It died quickly.


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