Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, im in the uk where it is reasonably nippy atm. I recieved my two new mantids (been out of the game about 18months) and the flower mantis is absolutely fine and positively voracious and leaping about from hands and such.

The dead leaf mantid however, just seems very lethargic, nibbled a cricket for the best part of an hour. And is now hanging from the lid of his cage. I understood this could be shedding so i left him too it, but he kept wheeling his head about, so i considered he could have been hungry from transit still. Tried opening the cage lid (its a hinge one) and he made no move whatsoever to correct for the angle like they usually do.

Is it just me or is something a bit pete tong here? Like i say i havent dealt with this species before and it was a long time ago i used to keep them.

Also anyone got anytips to stop them from lurking on the lid ALL the time?

That is actually pretty typical behaviour for a dead-leaf mantid. They prefer to hang from the top of the cage, but if you have a lot of sticks and things to climb and hang from in the middle of the cage, sometimes they will adopt a new hanging spot.
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www.Wildeyereptiles.com

Check the site for available insects

Thanks mate, but doesnt that make feeding abit hit and miss. Also i read they like to spend alot of time stalking on the floor so i invested in a tank with a lot of floor space (comparatively) and its abit gay to just lurk up the top. I may consider getting a second one and keeping in there with him (alledgedly they are sociable if enough space and food is there)

Feeding isnt as hard as you may think- you will need to get flying or glass climging food items like flies or roaches. They really dont like to leave the ceiling of the cage, and its fun to watch them snatch a fly mid-air.

Some species stalk the floor, but not dead leaf species, they really just hang most of the time. They are sociable, however they must be the same size and there must be ample hiding room. It is better if you can get 2 females, as male/female and male/male can have conflicts.

Your flower mantid will probably stalk some, however.
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www.Wildeyereptiles.com

Check the site for available insects

I agree with Leah, try feeding it a flying insect. I just recieved 8 baby(im not sure what lvl they are) deadleafs(desiccata), and they weren't too interested in crickets, but they LOVE moths. Its also a bit more fun to feed them flying insects rather than crickets, and there is less danger of your mantis getting injured.(If the cricket is a little too big, it could harm/kill the mantis.

-Andrew

No he/she is taking the crickets fine now. I think it was just from the cold weather in transit. Still waiting for it to molt, showing random signs and then nothing. Altho heres an odd point, its abdomen seems to instead of being pretty much circular as it was to start with, now is quite enlongated and ovalish... it could be just a trick of the mind, or it could have had a sneaky molt? Or just alot to eat... Either way, seems a tad random.