Backyard mantis

[Savvo]

I caught a little 2 1/2" green mantid in the backyard a couple days ago. After about 20 minutes of wrangling the little bugger I was able to get it to calm down and chill for a minute on my hand. I don't know a whole lot about mantids but they seem to have the brain capacity to be "tamed" and earn your trust. Smart insects. He has no problem whatsoever crawling right onto my hand whenever I reach for him in the terrarium. Anyway, after I got him to calm down after catching him I decided to attempt to feed him a small mealworm. I grabbed it out of the container and held it between my thumb and forefinger and put it right under the mandibles of my freshly caught mantid. It gave it a little "sniff" and what appeared to be a testbite, then very gently pulled it away from my fingers and started chowing down! I was staring at my hand for about 20 mins or so watching it finish up every last piece of its meal. I've never been able to feed anything while holding it, it was a very cool and rewarding experience. Thought I'd share
-Savvo

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Aren't these guys great? Just make sure it has good eyesight. I hand-fed my aging giant Indian mantis last fall and it missed. (They have sharp mandibles! )

 

[Chrysopid]

That is a neat story, thanks

 

[Black Widow88]

I love praying mantises! They rule!

Black Widow88

 

[Kriss]

I live in the UK and we don't have any running wild here but I've kept them for a little while and have about 200 at the mo.:razz:
Unfortunately you can't tame them. It may seem that way but he steps on your hand because he wants to move to a higher purch, not because he recognises you, but anyway that doesn't matter, they are great bugs and maybe this will be a start of a new collection!!!