Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click here to visit Classifieds
Click for ZooMed
Click here to visit Classifieds

I found a Mantis

DrMushi Nov 23, 2004 01:58 PM

Outside my window today, I found a light-brownish mantis, clinging to the window screen I decided to catch it and keep it for the winter(aren't insects ectothermic?) First, I want to know what kind of Mantis it is

it's a light brown mantis, about 3 inches long and it likes to hang upside down on tree branches

Replies (4)

kungfu2811 Nov 23, 2004 11:11 PM

3 inches and light brown... sounds like a carolina mantis, the scientific name is stagmomantis carolina.

-Andrew

DrMushi Nov 24, 2004 02:13 PM

Thanks, BTW, I think he/she is getting hungry, and there have been alot of crickets around lately, could it eat them?

kungfu2811 Nov 24, 2004 10:20 PM

Yep, your mantis would love them. You could also go to petco to get crickets, if you dont want to catch them.

-Andrew

ChrisT Dec 02, 2004 12:33 PM

>>3 inches and light brown... sounds like a carolina mantis, the scientific name is stagmomantis carolina.
>>
>> -Andrew

Actually, Carolina Mantises max out at 2 1/2 inches long. Does the Mantis you found have a green stripe along the bottom edge of the wings? The only Mantis in the US of the description you gave is the Chinese Mantis, Tenodera Aridifolia. This species ranges from 3 to 4 inches and is the largest species in the US. As for food, Mantises will devour any insect they can catch, and large species like the Chinese will sometimes attack small reptiles & amphibians. As for your question about Mantises being warm or cold blooded, the are indeed ectothermic, and by this time, most of the Mantises in North America, save for those in the deep south, have died from the cold, though those that haven't frozen to death yet will pass from old age before the end of the year, or die when the first frost reaches where they are.
-----
Give me Mantises, or give me death!

Site Tools