Will my ghost mantis be alright?

Ratmosphere

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Aug 23, 2015
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Usually I bring most of my collection to my girlfriends house in Rhode Island when I go up there. It gets pretty cold in that house so I want to leave them at my house this time. My ghost mantis ate a pretty big cricket on Monday. I hand fed it to her. I usually don't do this because I use flies. However, they all died. I have some coming today but theres no way they'll hatch in time for me to feed them to her. Her abdomen is pretty fat today. I'm going to put about 5 fly pupae in her enclosure once they come. It takes roughly 3-4 days for the flies to hatch. Theres no way I want to leave crickets in there just in case she wants to molt. I know it's not ideal to leave a mantis without food for a while, but will my mantis be okay until Sunday?
 

Andrea82

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If well fed, this species can go without food for a week, even two weeks.
Not so long without water though. Does it drink from a dish or do you mist? I would mist heavily right before you go, but if the air is dry due to the furnace running, it will evaporate quickly.
Maybe you can take her with you and add a heat source for her? Space heater, heat cable, something like that?
 

Ratmosphere

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If I leave her home she will be misted and left at a suitable temperature.
 

Jacob Ma

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Sometimes I think that insect keepers are too careful with their pets. Insects are not your warm-blooded mammals or birds that need food almost every day in order to maintain proper health. Note that ghost mantises are an African savanna species, which most insects, reptiles, or most animals there for that matter have adapted to survive longer periods without food or water. Insects have relatively fast metabolisms, but unless they are a really small or an active species they do not need food every day or even every other day. In fact, you can increase your pets' lifespans by simply giving them some time to not eat and slightly cooler temperatures (like a few days, nothing too long and minimum 8-10 degrees F colder than average) and they will thrive.

I didn't mean to sound too aggressive with this statement, but I wanted to relay this message, as many keepers are too concerned with providing intensive care for their inverts. Sometimes it's better to let the little things loose.
 

Toxoderidae

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Once I had a male ghost I was planning to breed once he matured leave my room. He turned back up a month or so later, slightly larger and obviously hungry. Ghosts are pretty hardy little mantids.
 

darkness975

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As long as it is getting water then it should be okay. Personally I would not be so keen on it but if you do it right then it'll be okay ..
 

Ranitomeya

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Mantises are pretty hardy and can handle being left alone for a week easily if you provide them with water and feed them before you leave.

I feed mine as much as they'll eat at any one feeding, so I generally feed once a week--sometimes that time is stretched to two weeks if they decide to molt and don't feel like eating during the time before molting and after molting. I just make sure they get the opportunity to drink and hydrate themselves if they decide not to eat.
 

Ratmosphere

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Just recieved a call this morning that woke me up. The person who was taking care of my collection said that the mantis died. Super upsetting. Hopefully she just molted and the care taker couldn't differentiate the leaves from the mantis. The mantis was misted daily so I have no idea what could have went wrong. I will let you guys know. :banghead:
 

Ratmosphere

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That was me handling it, it just crawled on me and I put it back right after the picture. So glad that she didn't die!
 

Jacob Ma

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I had a quite beautiful green L4 ghost mantis, but one week it stopped eating and then at the end of that week I found it dead. :(
That picture makes me a tad bit jealous, but I'm happy with what I have right now.
 

Toxoderidae

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That's the best mistake ever! Although it must have felt terrible for the caretaker. He has to be careful handling it, it stays quite soft for a couple of hours up to a day.
Nice green specimen you have there btw! Mine is the more common reddish brown.
I used to have 2 greens, 3 golds, and one brown. That was a couple years ago though.
 

arizonablue

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Jul 26, 2016
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Glad your mantis is okay, that one's a beauty! I have a female that looks like she's going to be a similar gorgeous green - I hope she ends up as stunning as yours!
 

Ratmosphere

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Thank you! Can't believe that in one more molt it will reach adulthood. These grow pretty fast!
 
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