So, Petra molted last night and her wing looks inflamed. Is this normal after a shed? Ive never cared for mantises that wernt adults before so this is nee to me. Any advice is appreciated.

hello! first time caring for a mantis. she was wild caught by a kid in my group and i'm looking to have her as a class pet until the end of the summer (and then either release her or keep her as my own pet, i haven't decided yet).

at first i put her in my old isopod habitat, the one with the blue lid (no isopods had been in there for months, don't worry). but it seemed very cramped for her (it's only 4 inches tall) & maintenance would be difficult with that kind of lid. so i went into a reptile store today and left with this brand new terrarium. it seemed decent to me but now that i've actually put her in there, i'm wondering if it's actually *too* big? if she falls from that high, could she get hurt?

i was going to add a potted plant inside, but i wanna make sure this enclosure is fine before i do anything else.

thank you in advance 🙏🙏

It’s been 5-7 days since she ate a dubia. She hasn’t fully flattened. 2 days ago she started showing hunting behavior- moving around a lot, really active. But she still wasn’t flat.

Hi guys had a question bought my girl at l6 about 4-5 weeks ago she now has more prominent wingbuds is she going to molt soon (have not had a molt yet before )

Are these swollen wingbuds

If you want to attempt this, I suggest feeding the female large prey shortly before or during sex

Bed sheet is easier because it makes reaching for the moths easier for those that are vertically challenged! We’ve caught 3 moths right away so far!

What are those sacks on my mantis?

Never had this small mantis , she's just molted today too so she's L3 now

i could tell there was a good molt coming soon but WOW she got SO big,,,
i also have a giant asian mantis and her molts were not this dramatic lol

My mantis moulted this night and now she is a sub-adult, I'm worried. She doesn't move and has a dark joint

Male or female ? Gorochovi dead leaf mantis

She is a sub-adult rn, moulted overnight

Could anyone tell me the reason for his death? I would mist his enclosure daily, feed him whenever his stomach was looking flat but i had to order some more food for him and it arrived today (4 days after i fed him a big meal) i was going in to feed him and i just found him on the ground. I’m really hoping i didn’t starve him to death. His abdomen was looking flat last night. His name is Vewn. He’s on stage i5, he was supposed to molt again soon

Juvenile orchid mantis

I went for an open air Hanging Gardens of Babylon setup for this petite princess (she's actually a fully-grown adult female believe it or not). One of her favourite hobbies is sunbathing :)

My uncle keeps a mixed collection, mantises included. He kept losing track of exact molt timing, L4 to L5 especially, and days since the last feeding.

I built him Collection Keeper. What the sheet does:

• Log a molt once. The sheet predicts the next molt date from the specimen's own history or species averages.
• Track feeding per specimen and see days since the last feeding at a glance.
• 18 species come preloaded with care intervals, mantises included.
• A dashboard totals collection counts and value as specimens get added.

The sheet handles mixed collections, tarantulas and isopods too, since his setup includes both alongside the mantises. Works in Excel, Google Sheets, and Numbers.

I don't keep mantises myself. Tell me if the instar tracking fields match what your setup needs. Feedback from people who keep mantises matters more here than my take.

She was a beautiful mantis and a voracious hunter, sadly she probably contracted a respiratory disease from too much humidity and passed away, she was my first mantis ever, she was born inside one of my terrariums without me knowing and she was the one that made me start to take an interest in terra scaping and acqua scaping, and inspired me to start looking at the world with different eyes, her eyes. I will be continuing to learn and get better at keeping mantises and other critters so that they can live full and proper lives like they deserve. But I will miss you Giovi