Found a Praying Mantis --- Now What?!?

[WYSIWYG]

Hiya,

I don't usually post on this board. I'm a tarantula gal, but
at tonight's spider party, I was coming back into the house
after tracking down one of our guests, when I noticed something
green on my wall outside my front door.

I know it's a mantis. It's not particularly large -- maybe 3 inches
long and very thin. It appears to have wings as it tried to fly
away when we tried to catch it.

I don't have a CLUE about mantids, though I know they are
carnivorous. What do they usually eat? Do they usually
bite? (I was afraid to touch it with my hands).

After corralling the cool critter into a holding container,
I tossed in a couple lobster roaches in for it, but I imagine
maybe it would prefer crickets? (He/she seems too upset
to eat right now). What size should the food be?? (I tried
both a baby lobster and a larger roach, though it wasn't
interested in either one when I checked earlier).

I don't want to keep it long as it may need to find a mate
to do its thing, but I figured I'd enjoy it for about a day or
two and release it back into the wild. How can I determine
what sex it is?

I'm in Queen Creek, Arizona, so it must be some kind of
desert species. Any clues on what?

What's the average lifespan and how can I know if I've
got a young one or a mature one?

Hopefully someone on this board can give me a clue.

SUPER cool critter!

Wysi

 

[David_F]

I don't know a whole lot about mantids but from your description it sounds like a mature male. Females generally have shorter wings. You can determine its sex by counting the number of segments on its abdomen. I had one for a while and it did fine on crickets. You can even feed them by hand. They are great pets. I had mine for a few months and she never tried to bite. Not sure if they even can really. If it is a male your best bet would be to let it go so it can find a mate. Or, you could keep it as more than likely he has found a mate already. I don't believe they live long though. Have fun with him. They are fun to have around.

 

[boxy]

Even though I've never kept a mantid for more than a few minutes, I agree, they're unlikely to even try to bit. The front legs seem much more dangerous to something our size than their mouth would be. Check out the spines on those front legs to hold the prey (if they're the same as around here)!

 

[chad11990]

feed it to your spiders :}
hehe! just kidding,

 

[Brian S]

A mantid that size would do well on pinhead crickets and flies.

 

[Alex S.]

Mantids are simple to house in captivity. A basic enclosure would consist of around an inch of substrate with some sort of semi-vertical object, such as a piece of cork-bark for the mantid to roost and hunt for prey from. A water dish really isnt necessary as mantids will drink drops of water accumulated on the enclosure from a couple mistings every week. One prey item every other day is a good feeding schedule.

Alex S.

 

[Linda Bowers]

Mantis Maintenance

It sounds like you have a male mantis. Mine eat crickets, moths, and flies. They usually die several weeks or a month after they mate. They don't bite with their mouths -- they PINCH with their forelegs!! Just a little prick. They pinch as a last resort. I keep mine in a plain glass large goldfish bowl with a stick in it so they can climb from floor to ceiling (no substrate since crickets will hide in it). I cover the bowl with cheesecloth, screening or a scrap of material and secure it with a large rubberband. Good luck!

 

[BigBadConrad]

Wysi,

I find a few of these every year myself in my yard in Scottsdale. Have one male now (http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=30987), and gave another to a friend. Still waiting for someone to positively ID it, but no one replied to my post (lousy picture, too).

My experience: they won't eat roaches. Crickets will be taken when they are really hungry, but not preferred. Part of the issue is that crix stay on the ground and the mantis stays in branches or on the lid. MOTHS are by far the favorite food of the ones I've had. I can always catch a few around my porch light and the mantis goes after them right away. Flies work well, too. Mine is about 3" and takes a good sized moth every day or two.

I have mine in a medium Kritter Keeper and put enough clippings in there so that it can climb to the lid. I found this one on an Asparagus Fern, so I use that mostly. That or Oleander. Replace it about once a week. DON'T use a water dish since mantises can easily drown in them and won't drink from them anyway. Instead, thoroughly mist the branches and side of the tank every day or two, getting as many droplets as you can to form close to the mantis. Spray him, too, because he will clean himself and get a drink that way. Also, don't worry about stressing him out. He may seem upset but will settle down quickly. Mine ran around the tank the first two minutes I put him in, then took a moth as soon as I dropped it in.

Good luck with him. I think you'll find him fascinating. Interesting to watch them feed - fastest-eating inverts I've seen! Mine usually last until late October/early November, but I usually release them a little sooner so they have a chance to find a mate before they go

Hope this helps,
John

 

[Randy]

feed it to your spiders :}
hehe! just kidding,

yah feed them to ur spider hehe~*

 

[Tarangela]

I hope you all don't mind me bringing this thread back to life

But I found a COOL green mantis outside this morning!! I have found 3 in the past month, and let the others go after about a minute of observing! This one though, I would like to keep a little while IT is very cool! It is at least
5" long, all green, wings, etc. I didn't know they ate other insects until I read this thread I am a T girl

Anyway, how can I sex this one? It is really beautiful, and weird at the same time, lol I love the way it moves back and forth trying to size me up And then it starts cleaning its legs, etc. It seems to be really calm now

I will catch it some moths around the porch light if that is what it wants Just let me know!

Thanks!

 

[David_F]

If you're able to get a look at the abdomen you can count the segments. Males will have eight segments whereas females have six.

 

[Wade]

Since you're in VA, it's likley the Chinese mantid, Tenodera aridifolia, an introduced species in much of the US (Conrad's mantid is likley this species also, but the pic is too blurry to be sure). No other VA mantid comes close to it in size. Mantids are easy to sex by counting the abdominal segments. Females have 6 or less visible segments, when viewed from below. with the last one being very large. Males have more segments, and the last one is small. This time of year, most of the males in VA are long gone and only (very fat) females remain. She has likley already mated and may produce one or more ootheca if you keep her.

If kept well, she may live annother month or two. I've managed to keep them going until January. In the wild, nearly all will be dead by the first frost. They are very short lived animals compared to T's.

Mantids are sensitive to dank conditions and will sometimes drop dead in cages without adequate ventilation. I usually keep mine in tall cages with screened tops or sides, without substrate. Water is supplied with occasional misting, but it's not necessary to over do it. It should be dry by the next time you mist.

Wade

 

[Tarangela]

Since you're in VA, it's likley the Chinese mantid, Tenodera aridifolia, an introduced species in much of the US (Conrad's mantid is likley this species also, but the pic is too blurry to be sure). No other VA mantid comes close to it in size. Mantids are easy to sex by counting the abdominal segments. Females have 6 or less visible segments, when viewed from below. with the last one being very large. Males have more segments, and the last one is small. This time of year, most of the males in VA are long gone and only (very fat) females remain. She has likley already mated and may produce one or more ootheca if you keep her.

If kept well, she may live annother month or two. I've managed to keep them going until January. In the wild, nearly all will be dead by the first frost. They are very short lived animals compared to T's.

Mantids are sensitive to dank conditions and will sometimes drop dead in cages without adequate ventilation. I usually keep mine in tall cages with screened tops or sides, without substrate. Water is supplied with occasional misting, but it's not necessary to over do it. It should be dry by the next time you mist.

Wade

Wade,

Thanks for that info I got her (I counted) out of the box she was in, and
her eyes had turned almost black!! Was that b/c of the box?? It had venelation! I took a q-tip and got it wet, and put it up to hear mouth, and she grabbed it!!! She drank off it forever, and I had to keep re-wetting it for her! Now she is setting on my hand while I type this one-handed lol! She is cleaning a leg now Her eyes are still black though Will they turn back to that pretty green like this morning????

THANKS

 

[Wade]

I think the eye color has to do with light conditions. Indoors, their eyes tend to be darker. My mantid reference book is packed away right now, so I can't look it up. Perhaps someone else knows the reason?

Wade

 

[Malkavian]

I believe the eye color change is similar to when a human's pupil contracts and dilates. Only with mantises its a compound eye instead of a simple one

 

[Tarangela]

These things are whack!!! I went outside and got a grasshopper, came back,
and just held it there. The mantis starts swaying, tightened up its forearms,
and WHAM! TOOK that grasshopper right out of my fingers! IT was unreal! I
couldn't believe how it was eating, and how it ate! IT was WILD! Really freaky! It's fat and happy now, and cleaning its leggs. It took about 10 minutes to EAT that hopper from INSIDE out. SO weird dude.

I am so used to a T that just attatcks, then slowly digests its food. I watched this thing the WHOLE time!

WILD! It was in many pieces when it got done

 

[dtknow]

I've found 3 Carolina Mantids(and one half dead European Mantid) in the last 2 weeks. We had some cold weather, so I suspect most of the wild ones are dead now. I'm keeping 2 females and one layed an eggsack. I had also caught a male but they didn't mate and the female ended up eating it, so I guess she is fertile.

A few pics of the second one for you guys to enjoy.

 

[Elizabeth]

Would this help to explain something about the dragonflies that I have (for showing to kindergarten kids). They had greenish irridescent eyes when they were alive. They were dying, though, and that is how they came to be caught at all, one by me, another by a friend. Their eyes blackened after death. What is that? Is that a variation on what is being described here, the pupil dilation?

 

[Elizabeth]

Wow! What nice pics! (I only noticed this next page after I posted my question above. Hmm a little out of place. Oh well.)

 

[reptillian]

i have a preying mantis. if you look on the abdomen if it has eight segments its a male if it has six its a female. they usually live for a year. you can feed it any type of insect as long as it isnt bigger than the mantis. in the wild they even eat bees and wasps.