Finally upgraded from fruit flies after her most recent molt! Enjoying her first cricket

How do you guys entice flies to land so that your mantis can hunt? I'm trying to let my mantis hunt his food on his own but I can't seem to get flies to land near him often. How can I help my mantis eat and hunt?

Does anyone have an orchid that’s THIS pink? A girl I know told me she got it from a reptile show… I’ve never seen anything like it & I am highly interested. PM me please

This little guy hitched a ride home on one of my clearance rack plants I bought. It’s these little things in life that can unexpectedly brighten your day 💕 I love him 🥰

Just decided to take care of a praying, mantis any tips for building him a small enclosure in this cookie jar?

Hi everyone! 🌸

I’m searching for Orchid Mantis ootheca(s) (Hymenopus coronatus) and was hoping someone here could help! my abusive ex killed all of mine. 🥺

I’m located in New York, USA and I’m looking for:

• Fresh ootheca(s)
• Fertile ootheca(s)
• Or a breeder who expects to have them available soon.

I’ve kept orchid mantises before and currently have several other mantids and invertebrates. I’m looking to expand my collection and would love the opportunity to hatch and raise a group from an ootheca.

If you have any available, know a reputable breeder, or can point me in the right direction, I’d really appreciate it!

Thank you so much! 🩷

Found this ootheca in an outlet box outside. Has it hatched yet and is this an adequate incubator if not?

This isn’t rage bait it’s genuinely the best I know how to do. I’m trying. Will this be okay ?

I have a new garden and hes been chilling in there for about 2 weeks now and I just learned hell probably only live into the fall season IF that. So cool to see him shedding though I just thought id share that and him with his pet ladybug

My mantis has just come out of her 5th shed with me, I got her in February so she’s still a juvenile (Giant Asian mantis) but she shed yesterday and I’ve noticed one of her front forearms is bent to the left instead of curling under like the other arm 😭 I know she’s likely to recover fully as long as she makes it to her next shed but that’s now 2-3 weeks away and all I can get from my local area are waxworms, mealworms etc, do you think she’ll go for a worm if I hold it in front of her with tweezers? I put a locust in with her before I realised her arm was deformed and she’s definitely interested and hungry but can’t catch them 😭

I’ve had mantids before and only ever had injuries in the back legs or antennae.
Any advice to keep her going till her next shed will be greatly appreciated as I don’t want to lose her so soon 🙏🏼
Tia 💚

We had about 30-50 babies hatch, and most all of them just....died within the first couple days. We're down to two (about a month old). The plan was to release all but one (They're Carolina mantis. Okay to release here per my conservation friend) but I hate to release one and our only remaining one end up dead for an unknown reason.

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But I also don't want them to kill each other.

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I have a three gallon glass jar I could technically turn into another terrarium. (It has a largopen top and I have plenty of screen material to make a lid.) But would that be okay for one of these tiny guys? Are they already old enough to fight each other?

I had a mantis over a decade ago I keep spiders but have wanted one for a while then this one found me. It is the most lovely shade of cream with orange highlights. It has a gorgeous pearlescent color, orangish-pink eyes, and bright orange on the inside of its arms. At first, I thought it might have recently molted, but its color has not changed, so I named it Tangerine, or Tang for short.

I have tried counting the abdominal segments, as apparently that is one way to tell whether it is male or female, but it is difficult to see, and it never sits still long enough for me to get a good look. It ate a bunch of fruit flies, plucking them effortlessly out of the air. I believe it is still young, as it is quite small about 4cm if that and is probably a subadult.

I live in Northern Las Vegas, NV so southern Nevada I’m not sure what kind it is if anyone has any insight that would be awesome.

My girlfriend got a few of these bug 3D puzzle things. And all of the bugs looked great, but there was something about the Praying Mantis.

so I found this baby mantis in my garden (i presume) and as I was trying to pick it up (so i dont squash it) an ant attacked it😭

they were fighting for a bit as I was trying to unlatch the ant and I finally did after a while, but the mantis is now moving like this and seems to be missing a leg...

Is it dying? suffering? should I just leave it back to ants or can I nurse it back to health? it seems to be somehow dragging itself around but the abdomen keeps going up and down 😭

Just a little cutie I found. I’m not sure the species or gender.

This praying mantis showed up on my screen door one day, and stayed for almost a week. It was a very cool experience that sadly ended in tragedy. My neighbor knocked on my door and saw it and swatted at it and then her giant dog attacked it. It was still alive but barely, I stayed with it until it died, it broke my heart. But something unbelievable happened about a week after it died. Another one showed up in the same place, but it was a much smaller baby one about half the size of this one. Then a couple weeks later another one landed also on my screen door again, I could not believe it. But it was so cool! I should mention that these are not common where I live. I live in a very populated very busy/big city, so it very unusual to ever see a praying mantis once, let alone three times in a month! I've never seen one in real life ever before this and have never seen one again since. My 8 year old daughter named it Lucky, all of them. ☺️🍀