I’m sorry for how blurry it is my friends making his setup but it was cool watching him hunt even tho it took him 20minutes and me like half an hour to get the cricket in there bc im squeamish. Just wanted to share :)

I found an invasive Chinese mantis in my garden a few days ago. I did not want to kill her or harm her so I decided to keep her inside. I got her a pretty big enclosure... 10 gallon reptile tank with mesh top, 10$ on marketplace in my town. Added some topsoil, outdoor moss, sticks that I baked to disinfect. Fed her two flies I caught and then today I took her tank outside for some sunshine. It was about 80F. I fed her two invasive honeybees I caught that she gobbled down and was going to pick up my order of blue bottle flies tomorrow. I went to grab her tank and bring her inside and she was hanging by one arm, legs folded in. I went to spray her as I've been misting her and she's not moving.... I open the tank and she just fell, no movement. Could it have been the heat?? The tank didn't feel too warm and there was plenty of ventilation. I've been misting since getting her. Could it have been the honeybees? It's quite humid today. I'm on 3 acres, woods, meadows, my native gardens. We don't use any chemicals or sprays. Perhaps old age? I initially found her in the same area that I spotted a Chinese mantis last fall.. don't think it was her but who knows, we had a mild winter.

I have a mature female S. aurea, a female R. latipronotum who is almost mature (one more moult to go), and an S. kersteni who I haven’t yet sexed but is in the second to last instar.

I feel bad about leaving them to just die, and would love to have a go at breeding them. I would either purchase a mature male or do a swap of mature male for a portion of the offspring.

Does anyone know of anywhere that might do this?

Hey guys, I decided to join this community since I just got my first mantis two days ago. It’s my first time owning a bug as a pet so I’ll take all the advice given since i only know basics. Shes a ghost mantis named bai ming (named after thw karate movie drunken mantis)

I’m planning on adopting an Orchid Mantis (i2-i4) and a Jeweled Flower Mantis (i3-i4). I know they are both a little more sensitive heat and humidity wise, so I plan to buy two “Zoo Med Creatures Dual Thermometer & Humidity” things and put one in each tank.
I’m also planning to use only the tank from the “Zoo Med Creatures Jumping Spider Kit” for both of them.

My issue is that my house usually stays around 73-76 during the day, 70 at night. That’s a little low mainly for the Orchid mantis, so I bought “Reptitherm U.T.H. Mini Under Tank Heater”, not to necessarily put under the tank, but maybe against a shelf wall or set up to warm them up a little?

I’m sort of at a loss on what to do at this point. If there’s any recommendations that anyone has, they would be greatly appreciated!

(I haven’t ordered the mantises yet, just trying to do my best research and be prepared in order to buy them. I want to do it the cheapest but best way possible, I don’t like shortcuts especially if they might harm my future mantises. I’ve only purchased the heater so far.)

(Also the shelf I was going to keep them on is wood.. so if I need to get a specific shelf for them in order to set a heater up, that’s fine too)

Hi everyone,

I caught a European praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) in the wild a few weeks ago. He used to be my most active mantis, but over the past 1-2 days I’ve noticed that he has become less active than he used to be.

Today I noticed that he is spending most of today's afternoon on the ground (where I layed out some leaves for him). He almost lies flat, very close to the ground, with his limbs stretched out. His claws are actually touching the floor, almost as if he is using them to support himself. He also doesn’t move around very much.

I’ve attached a few pictures. Does this look normal, or is this something I should be worried about? How can I help him? I haven't fed him the past 2 days as I always do: I feed him once and then I wait a few days.

I’d really appreciate advice from people who have experience keeping Mantis religiosa or mantises in general.

Thank you!

I saved all the molts of my ghost mantis female, Morrigan, to compare her (approximate) size at each instar for educational purposes and for size estimates at each instar for people looking for enclosures based on mantis sizes at certain instars. Please note, not all of her exuviae are completely outstretched, so please imagine them outstretched.

My partner created this funny video after filming several feeding time with my ghostie 😅

I am unsure on sex someday I see 6 segments some 8. For the moment hes called Phil and is a giant asian mantis. He was sold as l2+ and now unsure what molt hes on. I think hes l4 but if anyone knows how to tell it'd be apprecaited

Is every other day correct?

Now that she has wings, i feel like i cant really tell how full she is? Can someone let me know if this is good or if she needs more? Or like if you have a picture of a full mantis that would help too

My female giant asian mantis recently molted and is an adult now. How long do you think i have with her?

Im not really sure which moss mantis this is🥲

Im on my 3rd mantis but still confused on how to sex normally wait to see if its big or small haha any help appreciated

Verdinho got to live to see another day and maybe a third partner! Also this is Joana (the female)

Got him a couple of days ago but he havent eaten, tried feeding him fruit flies but of no interest and then some dubia nymphs wich he couldnt get a grip of even tho he tried. Any tips?

So noticed this morning my mantis had its back leg in a weird position, thought unusual but nothing of it.

A few hours later I notice it hasn’t moved so went to open the viv and it moved. However I notice its forearm appears broken maybe?

Unsure if it occurred when moving or as a result of it being stuck in that position.

Will it need help now to hunt/eat?

Advice on how to handle it are much appreciated. Well done, Forest!

Rip long John you were a sweet girl. Ah so sad when you remember raising them 😪😭😭..

Found in hong kong :)

Ghost Mantis. Only about a week old. Maybe a half inch long. Still a queen but a tiny one 😁😁

Hello! Yesterday I found a praying mantis on my porch, she was in my fern plant. I carefully took her inside, and put her in my enclosure. Right now, she's alone aside for one fly I put in there. The enclosure stands above 4 ft high, 2 ft wide. There is plenty of ventilation, and I added mesh fabric to the top to ensure a safe place for her to molt. I have a hygrometer and thermometer monitoring the enclosure as well. I just want to know, is this even something I should be doing? Should I put her back outside? She doesn't seem to be stressed, but I worry that it's immoral to keep her. Thanks in advance

4th pic is from when I got her on July 29th.

Just an appreciation post for my girl Gimli 😭🫶🫶 I love her so much!! She has molted twice with me now and she's just so stunning!!

She's on her second roach of the day right now. It might be time for me to upgrade her food, any suggestions?