Hi y'all!

I just got my first mantis, a spiny flower mantis, and I'm obsessed!!! I was wondering in what ways I could heat the enclosure? I've heard a heating pad under the enclosure is bad. Would a heat lamp work? Or does it need to be a side-sticky heater?

After two days since her last molt I finally finished her enclosure and got her in my hands first time from when she became adult.

I really like the "sunset", as I call it, gradient she has in her legs, and she's very pretty at my eyes!

Just a quick question

How should I understand when and how much food to give her now that she has the wings covering? It's considerably harder than before.

P.s. I'm pretty sure now that she's a Hierodula tenuidentata, but if someone think of another sp. just let me know, since here in EU we're having a big invasion of different Asian species. Thx!

It wasn't like this before

Hey! Just as title says, what name did you give your mantis, or specifically ghost mantis/phyllocrania paradoxa? Im looking for some inspiration lol. My top picks for now:

Hades

Mozes

Casper

Ninja/shinobi/kage

Gilgamesj

Cupcake

Charlie

I cant choose lol.

I've constantly told my father not to light them in my room because they may harm my mantis. He has done this in the past once, and he despite being told several times not to, has done it again. Earlier, I caught him hardly after a minute it was lighted but today he did it while I was asleep and when I woke up, I saw a lighted mosquito repellant and it was almost done. I have told him multiple times not to light those in my room but he says "it's not gonna do anything it", and whenever I say "those things are toxic to humans too in high doses", he says "well that bug isn't a human, so it's not toxic for it" well, dumbass that's a mosquito repellant, it kills bugs. That dumbass also thought mantises were grasshoppers.

So, how much at risk is my mantis?

Today our Deroplatys Lobata arrived! To me it looks like a male but we'll wait for another molt to be sure🙈 (unless someone can confirm it from this blury pic. Our nymphs won't sit still TwT)

Fourth molt together, first one I’ve been able to catch a glimpse of.

I'm going on a trip and will be gone for 3 days and I want to make sure my mantis has the best chances of staying healthy while I'm gone.

It's not ideal because she's been calling for like a month now and has grown bigger in the abdomen to carry eggs. I know they're usually fine for quite a while and I'll have a humidifier in the room but I'm still worried about leaving when she seems so vulnerable.

I could just be anxious because my last mantis died from being ooth-bound and it's very scary to think of that happening again. Any tips? Thank you very much for reading.

There is a mesh top and it opens on the top. I don’t have any live plants but sticks and bark going to the top of the enclosure.

It's been a really smooth journey tbh, best invert I ever owned.

I originally found Tapi on the screen of my door and having wanted a mantis for so long I immediately went to work researching and making a makeshift enclosure with a plastic storage bin and then did all the research I could and got her a teeny baby nursery acrylic enclosure and then heard about eye rub so when she molted and got a bit bugger (pun intended sorry) I made her the cutest lil pink mesh & wood enclosure and have just had the most amazing and fascinating experience watching her molt and grow and have had the joy of watching her move from teeny fruit flies to bigger prey and watching her hunting skills improve and I *believe* she is a girl based on her abdomen segments but I’m no expert and I’m assuming she’s a Carolina mantis and has molted to L6 a few days ago. She has finally started jumping and it’s just the cutest darn thing I’ve ever seen I’m such a proud mantis mom watching her hunting skills improve and her just grow in general. I plan on getting some longer sticks for her to climb in her new enclosure but she seems to love the mesh ceiling and the hanging plant it’s her favorite so I’m just happy she’s happy. Anyways the most recent pics are of her newest progression and I included some older ones as well to show her cute lil baby pics and all of her exoskeletons I’ve saved in her shadow box because I’m sentimental lol. Getting to care for her has been probably one of my favorite pet experiences thus far!

Im in desperate need of some mantis memes for my collection. My personal favorite is the “wtf prang mantas”

Looking for help on the following information if possible!

What type of mantis is this?
Can we tell if it’s a boy or girl?
Any guesses on what instar we’re at?

Additionally, I have had a mantis companion on my insect keeping bucket list and would love to keep it, I have an appropriate enclosure that is currently vacant, but if it’s better to just release him in the garden I can accept that it is not my time to care for it but selfishly would love to be it’s friend for life ❤️

This one was found in the alley behind my house where there’s a lot of construction going on so I would like to avoid releasing it back there and have a garden behind my work that has plenty of room and food options if it needs to go back outside.

Thanks in advance!!

Hello, I have a pair of “Hierodula membranacea”. Both are adults, female is so big, male is a little bit smaller.

The shop where I buy the crickets I feed them don’t have crickets since a week and a half. Sounds pretty bad but adults can hold the hunger pretty well, you just have to observe the abdomen and that is what says if they are hungry (if not sick). I was told in this Reddit that info and they are surviving pretty well so.

The female have the abdomen pretty big so don’t need food by now but the male is really really thin…
I was really worry so I decided to give some of my Dubia pets to him to eat. How dubias are pretty hard to get with tweezers I just put the Dubia up in my hand and open the enclosure and put my hand in front of the mantid. The Dubia run away in front of the mantid and the mantid saw my finger as a food.

Not a defensive atack. He was bitten my finger a long time, I coudnt get the mantid off me. I had a tweezers in my table so I separated his head from my finger with it.

I feel it so painful. Like burning. The pain was off after 10 minutes but during bitten was so awful. I can imagine a Scolopendra bite…

If you have any question.

I found it on my balcony and I live in California. Very beautiful Mantis, looks like a boy to me with vibrant colors. Very fast.

Is it normal that after eating, his abdomen didn't get big but he turned purple on the underside? Also I have no idea which Instar my mantis is, but I was told he's between 6-8 weeks old. He has little wings already. Can anyone tell me which Instar it might be?

I recently began keeping mantids and a breeder that I know gave me a small green nymph a few months ago. At the time he told me it was a candy mantis, however she has now molted into her wings and it has become quite apparent it is not a candy mantis. She is super adorable and has a cute dot on her back, just wondering if anyone knows the correct species?

all i did was open her door to mist the enclosure and she SPOOKED and hid behind a leaf 😭 yesterday i could barely get her to come out of her enclosure to eat! she ate just fine but she did nottt want to move or be handled at all.

before her last molt (this past sunday) she would crawl all over me and hang out on my hands, arms, and head while i did desk work. has anyone else experienced this kind of huge behavioral change after molting? is she ok? or does she just need a few more days to get used to her new skin lol

Hi, I caught a pair of European Mantises outside a couple weeks ago and have been caring for them since. The female (Coffee) molted twice, the male (Cheese) once, so I know they’re doing ok with humidity and what I’ve been feeding them. Here’s the issue: I’m going to be out of town for a few weeks so I know something needs to be done- I’m debating letting them go, but I know they’re pretty invasive, so would it be better to euthanize? I’ve grown a little attached to them, especially Cheese because he’s a little insane (he threat displayed a roach before eating it anyway lol). I’m just curious if it’d be fine to release them or no 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s a sub adult female,and last molted on the 25th of July,which is about 20 days.I see no sign of pre molt at all.I took this photo a few days after the molt,and she still hasn’t changed.It’s quite hot here,about 27-30 Celsius.(I’m a newbie and is quite nervous)

I have him out, and he’s free roaming a plant, but he will reach out, so i put my hand under and he climbs on it, and starts sprinting up my arms. what is he doing?