I have a praying mantis that I found and I want to know how to take care of it. Does anyone know or had experience? I've had one before but she froze to death because I didn't know how to take care of one.
Answers:
a well planted 5 gal should do. feed 2 pinhead crickets each day possibly with dust (calcium powder) a light is beneficial for the plants. room tempurature is fine and i put mine outside on fairly good days. any plants will do by the way you dont need to buy any i decorated mine with dandilions and carootweed. tons of grass and leaves are a fine substrate because you can change them very easily and it looks good. if you can find flying insects outside to feed to him because it is very entertaining to watch insects make awsome pets so go ahead and have fun.
ps.dont get too attached they dont live very long. mine for a month
Put him back outside, where he belongs and knows how to survive. They aren't meant to be pets.
You don't have a praying Mantis. You have a preying Mantis.
As a kid I had one and used to feed it bugs. This might help: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article.
i've heard that it can recognize its owner and they can get good relationships if cared for, like they'll drink out of a spoon, be held without flying away, things like that. take care of urs and see if this happens to you!
You might want to check if it is legal for you to keep - seriously, I was told as a child in school it is illegal to kill one, and it had a big $ fine. This is because they are so beneficial in pest control. So, probably they can't be kept as pets, either.
As you caught it wild, I'll assume that it's either an adult - with wings - or sub-adult, which means it could well get wings next time it moults.
If it doesn't have wings already, it needs to live in an area with a height that is about 3 times more than the mantids length, otherwise it might have a 'bad moult' and get mangled. (They can still live like that, but you might need to hand-feed it.)
As they are insects, they need warmth to stay alive, so if it's getting colder in your area, go to an exotic pet store (or find one on the internet) and ask for a small heat mat suitable for putting underneath an insect's home. You might not need to leave it on all the time though, in the wild your mantis would possibly get very cold (and inactive) at night. (If your home is centrally heated, you probably won't need a heat mat - just keep the room at such a temperature that you can walk around in a light top without feeling cold.)
Unless you live in a tropical area - which is unlikely if you once had a mantis that died because it got too cold - then you MIGHT have a young mantis, but it's more than likely approaching the end of it's life. That does NOT mean it's about to croak! Once they have their wings (adult) they can often live for months if they're warm - but not too warm, well-fed - but not over-stuffed, and safe from predators!
So, you need a decent sized container that has ventilation, this does NOT mean a jar with a couple of holes poked in the lid! If you find a big enough jar, make a makeshift netting lid for it. A heat source that's safe, and a food supply.! Can you go out hunting with a bug-net? If not, maybe the exotic pet store can sell you some medium sized crickets - but don't leave them alone with your mantis if it might moult or if it's weak! They can eat mantis wings and legs . Or, fish bait shops often have a selection of maggot-type critters, and some rare places have fly pupa, and you can take a few out of the container and chuck them in with the mantis, then they emerge as flies and the mantis catches them - but whatever you feed it needs to be at least a little bit smaller than the mantis - they like butterflies and dragonflies too, but you can't buy those I suppose!
; )
Mantids don't need living plants - although their food might like it! Fake plants are fine for mantids to walk on, and crickets are okay with a chunk of cucumber.
Get a brand new plant mister, that's never had pesticides or fungicides etc. anywhere near it, and use it to lightly mist your mantid's home with water - once a day will probably do, unless it's boiling hot, in which case twice might be better.
If you've got a female - her body will become increasingly fat, VERY fat - she'll want to lay her egg-sack eventually. You can place a nice, suitable branch in there if you want, but she'll probably just put it on the lid of her container!
If it's a male - very slim and elegant, able to fly when you least expect it, sometimes uses a flapping of his wings as a mild 'threat' - he won't need anything except a safe area to fly occasionally! Watch your eyes though - rarely, mantids think a moving eye in someone's face is a nice juicy bug to eat! (It's the iris, and the way it seems to be a round bug twitching about.!)
Put it back outside. It is a natural predator for a lot of "bad bugs". Thanks, nature lover.
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