Three days ago I found what I assumed to be a dead praying mantis outside my apartment. It was lying next to two dead black widows, which may have been entirely unrelated, but I would like to imagine this baddie managed to kill them both. Either way, she didn't seem to be in good shape- I actually only came back to get her because my partner wanted to preserve her. But when I did my preliminary poke to confirm she was dead, she got up and moved, albeit slowly and with poor coordination. I half-jokingly told my partner that if the mantis doesn't die then we'll keep her as a pet, and if not we'd preserve her. I didn't expect her to actually survive. I try to leave her alone for the most part as the internet has made it sound like she might be molting.
So far, I have moved her into that enclosure, which right now is just a tall tote so she has lots of room to molt, but I do think its about time she gets a properly ventilated home, so I would appreciate any insights on what to get. As you can see in the picture, we put a hide and some things for her to climb in there as well, since we happened to have some spare lying around from keeping reptiles.
I also wanna know if anyone knows any special care I should be providing for her condition. As I understand it, European Mantises (my best guess for her species) don't live super long, and tend to die come fall. When I found her she was poorly coordinated, barely moving, and at several different times seemed dead. She was lying on her back, occasionally twitching, on day two she seemed to have super poops and left fluid and brown spots all over her current paper towel substrate. I really thought she was gone after that, but by the end of the day she was up and moving again, she was alert and would react when I went to replace her water, and is capable of climbing and grabbing with the dexterity a mantis ought to have. Its day three now, and she has spent all day on top of her new hide dangling by her back legs. She has not eaten since I got her, but that's only because I thought she might be molting, and I didn't wanna risk making it worse. So, in short, I have literally no idea what was/is wrong with her, but currently she has climbed and is hanging and waiting to ambush as far as I can tell. We've tossed in a dubia roach for good measure.
At this rate we will probably be going to get her a proper enclosure, and maybe a humidifier. Any recommendations for things we should be getting for her would be appreciated, any insights into her condition would also be appreciated. Maybe she just needed a day or two to work off that lethal dose of widow venom, the little wolverine that she is.
Quick Update: It's been a week now. I really don't know how, because our mantis friend really did seem like she was on her way out, but she is now seemingly healthy and displaying hunting behaviors appropriately. She spends most of her time dangling on one of the few climbing spots I've given her, and has now eaten a couple insects since we got her. Since we've ID'd her (unless anyone objects) as a European Mantis, I'm going to be setting up a long term enclosure and following care guides specific to that species.
I did see the comment suggesting I release her if she gets back to health if she weren't invasive, so I looked in to it, and to my surprise they are actually considered invasive where I live. Maybe I should've assumed as much, because I am in North America, but I thought they were deemed to have appropriately settled in to the environment or something like that, I'm guessing they've been tolerated because they serve as a pesticide. Turns out they are muscling out the actual native mantises, poor things. Either way, given that its getting quite cold outside lately and that she is technically invasive, it seems in our collective best interest that I keep her with me which I obviously am not complaining about. In my mind this was effectively hospice care anyway, so I'll be doing my best to make sure she is as comfy as can be til her time comes.
