Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My little ghost mantis nymphs got in a fight last night and one of them lost part of her arm (the ones they use for catching prey). They have plenty of food and space so I'm not sure what got them so riled up. Will my mantis be able to eat with part of her arm gone? Will she grow it back?

It doesnt matter what the species, environment or food availability, mantids will be mantids. I've never personally considered this particular species to be communal, even the communal 'gongylus' have their bad days, so the first thing for me to do is suggest you keep all nymphs seperate from now on to avoid catastrophe. The only time my mantids get to meet eachother is when its breeding time, simply because before that time, all other mantids could represent either a threat or food. The mantis that lost its arm could be ok as long as it succeeds in catching and eating food continually and if it does survive, it's arm should grow back. Other than that as i said above, try keeping the mantids seperate, they wouldnt remain in particularly close quarters in the wild, it's probably one of the main reasons most male mantids can fly.
Good luck with the mantids, great species to keep by the way, one of the few creatures that can do little/nothing, yet still be 100% interesting.
Dave

Dont worry he'll be fine I have a ghost with 1 catching arm at the moment and he still eats like a pig and have 6 woman waiting for him lol.

Whew! Thanks. I put a cricket in her tank last night and it was missing this morning so looks like she's still able to eat. It was cute watching them posturing at eachother...till I noticed the arm missing. They are in separate tanks now.
I love watching them. They try to look like blowing leaves so they wobble around when they walk. This is my fist time owning ghost mantids and I'm really enjoying them. They kind of remind me of the Shadows on Babylon 5.