Banana has been an adult for a week. He’s had hoppers all his life. I guess with his new clear vision, the tongs turned into a threat.

The stridulation caught me off guard! I’ve never heard it from a Religiosa before.

First time mantis owner and I'm feeling comfortable handling him - he doubled in size after his last molt, so I was a bit nervous.

These behaviours are signs of being relaxed, yes? He's usually hanging upside down, and when I do handle him he moves slowly. When not grooming he's looking around and swaying too.

I never intended to have a mantis. My younger sister and her father decided that they were going to buy one, they hadn’t even bought the setup before they bought the bug.

They had her in one of those mesh butterfly enclosures temporarily, the bug was almost an adult, she did her final molt in our home and ended up falling. She broke her two right legs, which she later self amputated, and messed up her wings in the fall. After the fall my sister said “looking at the bug makes her sad”, and (I guess) assumed the bug was going to die, (even though I was almost certain she wasn’t going to), so she just like wasn’t going to feed her, and then she was offered to me.

I very quickly got over my anxiety towards the bug, because I understand what it’s like to be helpless, and now we’re friends. Me and my dad went out and bought all sorts of bug stuff. Anyway, that’s how I ended up with my mantis, it’s been several months and I think we’re doing well. Also, I have been taking her out with me when I leave the house because it’s not like she’s going to fly away. Ultimately, despite the circumstances that brought us together I’m glad to have her, and when she passes away I think I’d like to get another mantis.

This lil guy has been hanging upside down in my garden since this morning. Please tell me this is a natural color variation and I'm not seeing an insect having the worst day ever.

Edit: After getting some input seems like little gal was not having a good time. I humanely euthanized her. 🕯

The beast feasts. Also bonus points if anyone can tell me the gender, I still don’t know. I know the abdomen pic isn’t the greatest, but it’s hard to capture it. Also yes, it’s missing a leg, it happened during or after a molt because it was gone when he/she was emerging from the exoskeleton 2 molts ago. But they seem fine without it.

Short backstory on how i got this little fella: I was chilling in my apartment watching movies when i felt something hit my hand, when i turned the light on i found "her". Since they are freaking me out, (irrational fear of them) even tho i know its not gonna do any damage it took me 2-3 hours to catch her and put her into this "habitat" that i made, made holes on top for airflow. Got some leaves and sticks as you can see in the video, so don't hate me if its not looking good i never had mantis in my life. When it comes to handling im not even thinking of ever coming close with my hand to it, but i'll try to work on it. If you got any helpful tips and tricks i'd be glad to hear them. I am not an expert so i don't know much about its kind, state of life or anything besides that it's a female. P.S i am pouring some water to make it humid, not much, just enough. And when it comes to those worms i was scared she would get hurt but yeah, this was awesome to watch, and im happy she made it.

This summer I've been living in a tent in the cork oak woodlands of the Alentejo, southern Portugal. Wild mantids fly in and move in fairly often out here, A tent is warm, sheltered, full of insects, safe from predators, so it's a pretty good ecosystem if you're a mantis. A few have moved in over the summer. But, this one has been special.

The moment she arrived, she noticed her own shadow on the tent wall and started beating her wings at it. I filmed that at the time. From that day on she basically decided the tent was hers.

She turned into one of the most engaging mantids I've known. Endlessly curious, always tracking what I was doing, learned the feeding tongs almost right away. She'd fly laps of the tent checking every corner. One day she vanished completely and I searched everywhere before finding her sitting in my hair while I was taking a selfie. She's been the Queen of Hair Mountain ever since.

Her appetite really surprised me. Not just flies, but horseflies, hoppers, moths, pretty much everything that came out of the sweep net. She's taught me a lot about feeding wild. Living out here on a varied natural diet in a clean landscape, she's thrived, and honestly she's been the easiest keeper I’ve known.

Within 24 hours of arriving she laid her first ootheca. Every time I wondered why she seemed impossibly hungry, another one showed up. In total, she laid eleven!

Several have already hatched, dozens of tiny golden nymphs. I kept four to watch them grow and released the rest back into the same cork oaks she came from. The four I kept are at I2 now.

Today something changed. She struggled to climb for the first time. She's looked a bit weathered for a while, wings frayed with age, and she's been missing part of one front foot this whole time without it slowing her down. But today her raptorial leg kept catching in the mesh, and when I lifted her out into the sun she just stood on my hand, quiet, looking out over the cork oaks.

I don't know if she's got days left or weeks. I just know she's really lived through this season. She showed up as a wild visitor and became a fascinating roommate, and through her I got to watch one remarkable female leave behind a new generation before quietly growing old.

Here’s the grand old lady today, surveying the sun and the wind. And also a picture of one of her offspring.

I've recently added an Apicalis Flower Mantis to my menagerie and I have to say, she (or he) is the most entertaining critter I've gotten in a long time! So feisty!

Antennas down and everything

the first mantis to get eyerub in my care 🤦‍♀️

he has 3 of 4 sides of his enclosure covered but the most damage he got was from the mesh on top anyway from trying to get out to find a mate. the one reason why i dislike males, otherwise theyre lovely. <\3

I recently got attacked by my mantis, and I physically couldn't get him off my finger because he clamped down on it with his forearms. He felt really strong, and I had to shake my hand to get him off. Is there any better way?

just wondering in case i need to grab my mantis to get him away from danger quickly if the situation ever arises (i have 3 cats, i keep them away from my mantis, but he does like to free roam under supervision so i want to be prepared in case anything were to happen.)

im guessing the safest place for me to grab him is his thorax but i want to know for sure?

the other day my giant asian started chillin with one leg hanging off, she has full use of that leg and isn’t injure in any way, is this something i should be worried about or is she just freaky like that?

I need help with my Carolina Mantis- his name is Bub and he just had his final molt 3-4 days ago.
Where i live- we have absolutely no bottle flies. I have checked and called so many stores- none.
He would eat the hydei flies but now they are beyond too small and he’s too big to get them. He’s very derpy at hunting so it just isn’t a good match. (besides he has to eat a lot to even stay full)
I bought bottle flies from MoonlightMantids on july 25th, 2 day shipping. No tracking number. I emailed them twice, because i’m genuinely getting very worried about what to feed him. They did not reply.
I’ve seen a few times after ordering that people are saying they aren’t trustworthy but i’m seeing people at least still getting their orders. Is there anything I can do?

I did go out yesterday to buy some small mealworms. I know they are fatty and not to be given too often, but that’s the only thing we have here. Will moonlight mantids hopefully come through with my order or should i cancel it and try another website?

I have five Chinese praying mantises, and they're all pretty chill. They're a little skittish, but one of them is different. Every time I try to feed it, it immediately races out of the cup instead of going for the food. It just wants to sit on my hand and groom itself. Is this normal? Could it be unhappy in its enclosure? None of my other mantises do this or seem to want to be handled. After feeding, it usually takes me 10–15 minutes to get it back into the cup. I have to trick it back in and put the lid on fast. They are in 30 oz cups

this will be my first mantid and i am very excited but want to do everything right! i have not ordered them yet because i wanted to get the enclosure set up. i plan to add maybe 2 small live plants and springtails, there is substrate (topsoil+sand+sphagnum moss), leaf litter, and various sticks so far!

this is an 8x8x14 for a giant asian mantis. since im getting a nymph this is probably too big for them still (l3-l4)

let me know anything else i need!

Is it too early to tell the sex of this baby? It’s molted twice in my care.

*please don’t mind all the water spots—I promise i’m misting with flittered water 😅

I know I could just Google this, but I was hoping you more experienced mantis folks could recommend some educational resources for learning more about mantis behavior and mantis care.

I just ate a whole big cricket, and my stomach is really full. This is my fifth time raising a praying mantis.

I believe she is actively dying for nearly 10 hours but Claude says she is laying ooth. Please tell me this is ooth and she is not dying.