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I found a praying mantis

I was outside and I saw something walking on the grass while I was doing a phone call. I investigate it and it is a praying mantis! So I caught it and it's wandering around on my desk right now.

What kind is it, and can I keep it? I have a Insectlore Butterfly Garden house that I can put it in. And some sticks... or do they need special equipment like heat lamps and humidifier?


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Aww it's so cute! Great find :p
 
Great find. Looks like a Chinese mantis. The butterfly garden is perfect, just put some sticks in there for it to climb on. Don't need extra heat or humidity, just feed it lots of bugs. Flies, moths, crickets and roaches make great food.
 
At this time of year the mantis look for places to lay eggs before winter's cold kills them, so there is a chance that you might have a pregnant female. Sorry to say that they only live about a year, so it probably won't live much longer, even indoors.
 
My Chinese mantis is the only thing that will eat the invasive marinated stink bug, they might also eat japanese bettles bit i dont have much luck with that.

Otherwise they will eat many household pests that are not venomus or treated with insecticides. If their are none you will be forced to buy crickets from the store as it is almost winter. They can eat canned catfood though...

They will only need heaters if it is below 50 degrees so dont worry, also it is an adult and it does not need humidity to shed. Water can be given by taking a bottle cap or spoon and having it drink water out of that, it will bend over and lick up the water with its tongue.
 
Aww it's so cute! Great find :p
I know right!? I love

Great find. Looks like a Chinese mantis. The butterfly garden is perfect, just put some sticks in there for it to climb on. Don't need extra heat or humidity, just feed it lots of bugs. Flies, moths, crickets and roaches make great food.
Cool I'm gonna buy her tons of crickets!!

At this time of year the mantis look for places to lay eggs before winter's cold kills them, so there is a chance that you might have a pregnant female. Sorry to say that they only live about a year, so it probably won't live much longer, even indoors.
Ohh so this one's a girl? How cute. She's cute. I let her climb around and she crawled up my arm and into my hair, and it tickled.

My Chinese mantis is the only thing that will eat the invasive marinated stink bug, they might also eat japanese bettles bit i dont have much luck with that.

Otherwise they will eat many household pests that are not venomus or treated with insecticides. If their are none you will be forced to buy crickets from the store as it is almost winter. They can eat canned catfood though...

They will only need heaters if it is below 50 degrees so dont worry, also it is an adult and it does not need humidity to shed. Water can be given by taking a bottle cap or spoon and having it drink water out of that, it will bend over and lick up the water with its tongue.

Wow cat food o_o. I read that mantis prefer juicy bugs with soft exoskelies so I'mma buy her tons of crickets. I put a wet cotton ball in the habitat, it that okay? I can give her a plastic bottle cap if needed. I just didn't want her to drown somehow.


:boogie: :boogie: :boogie:

---------- Post added at 06:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:07 PM ----------

So I bought her 5 large and 10 small crickets. Within seconds of me dumping them all in her house, she caught two large crickets. She chewed off the head of the first cricket, ate half of it, dumped it and started on her second. I look back a couple minutes later and she caught a third large cricket in her free hand.

I guess I should have just dumped in a couple crickets not 15 of them o_o Guess I'll go catch the extras, I don't want her to go blow up on crickets. D:
 
From the judge looks like a male A female praying mantis is much more fatter and bigger
 
If it can fly, it's a boy (at least I think).
 
  • #10
So the fun begins! Fatten it up and lets see how big it's abdomen gets, if it gets huge, it's probably a female. It does look like a female, and you said it had 6 segments, so most likely a female. Males are more slender and have more segments. Remove the crickets she doesn't eat, crickets can bite and kill your mantis, though that rarely happens.
 
  • #11
One in each hand- wicked!! She knows how to eat!! haha
 
  • #12
Yea I know! I kinda lost count, but she ate all the crickets I left in there. I bought her 15 crickets, but I think the girl who got me the crickets didn't really count them all. Cuz I ordered 5 large and there was more than 5 large crickets, and 10 small, but I think there were more than 10 smalls ones too.

Must have been hungry or something!!

I think it might be an Green European Praying Mantis, http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05510.html
 
  • #13
Fantastic! Enjoy the little guy (or girl) while you can. Maybe you'll decide to get some young nymphs and raise them up. The ghost mantid females live the longest up to 14 months if you want a "long lived mantis".

I don't have anything for my mantids to drink from I just mist into their terrarium once every day, they lick the mist off their arms and if they're really thirsty they will lick the plant leaves but mainly they only do that on very hot days.


Offtopic:
Love the new avatar Larry but if Prop 19 passes CA will have a whole lot more citizens... :D
 
  • #14
  • #15
Well she does have black spots on each of her arm pits, but they are fully black!
 
  • #16
AWESOME AND WICKED . I decided to start my collection all over. :D
 
  • #17
Not a chinese, at least I don't think so.

Looks like a stagomantis species.
 
  • #18
Nice! I never find anything that interesting around here... just tons of Japanese beetles.
 
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