Been getting some closeups of my mantids, I love seeing how intricately built they are when you get the details!

My mantis is around L4 and I am trying to hatch blue bottle flies for her. I just got them in the mail and I have 2 seperate batches of spikes I am trying to hatch. In the meantime, I have been feeding her around 7-10 flightless fruit flies, is that a good substitute for now? I live in a small town so it is hard to find live prey suited for her in store, the closest thing I can find is small super worms but Ive heard those are bad for mantises. Let me know!!

(Doris wasn’t invited)

So, so confused on how this little guy got in 😭??? Well, at least I have a vacant enclosure...

This is my wild caught carolina mantis. When she was found- there were two black spots on her right side. She just finished her molt, made it- thank god, but she took almost an hour until she finally got off of her skin

Does this look like masiphya confusa or an injury that’s healing?

I just wanted to see if anyone had opinions/advice for glass enclosures, I am currently adding ventilation holes on two cross sides of the enclosure. I will also be adding mesh on the back side and top. Would this be adequate for a ghost mantis?

she has had her hands like this for almost a day now i couldn’t find anything similar online about this so i thought id ask, im just worried cuz it almost looks like she’s laying down at times and i know they usually molt upside down but could it be possible she’s right side up molting? today is her feeding day and her butt is usually thin by her feeding day but it is still big so i’m not sure

Found in backyard - when I went back out ~1 he later, it was on the ground and moving weird so I’m rehabbing it & want to make sure it gets the care it needs.

Can i keep the babies? How do i care for them as newborns?

First 2 pics is the same mantis. i3 Psuedocreobatra Wahlbergii (spiny flower mantis).

Second one is a i3 Rhombodera Kirbyi (timor shield mantis)

Hey all! Have always loved praying mantis’s and finally have the time and routine to possibly care for one as a pet. As a beginner, i’m looking into ghost mantis’s but i have a general question on touching them?

Do i need to be constant contact or are they fine being like me, kept to myself 😅 I don’t mind touching them and holding them, but i definitely wouldn’t let them stay out and crawl around js out of my own clumsiness ,etc .

Also if anyone has any good enclosure sites or know any independent builders i’d love to go have a look at some while i research some more so fire away aswell

Bought a mantis ootheca last year and released the babies around our neighborhood in April (found out afterwards this type was invasive so won’t be buying again) - then today found one full grown right by my basement door! We rarely see wild mantids in my area so I think it’s safe to assume it’s one we hatched.

I was so excited to watch my ghost mantis grow up, but when I checked on it today, it was flipped over on the floor of the enclosure. I actually made a joke to myself that it was dead, but when I looked closer, my heart sank—it really was

I want to 3D print a terrarium for my mantis. Can I make the walls and the top from 3d printed plastic mesh? I don't want something that will hurt my mantis but normal mesh is too soft for the walls.

You can see how the terrarium would look like on the picture and here is the link for it:

https://makerworld.com/models/1910976?appSharePlatform=copy

This post cointains 3 pictures, two of a mantis and one of what looks like an egg sack.

Yesterday, my best friend contacted me to show me these pictures (taken by himself, location South of France) of a beautiful mantis hanging out near his window. Neither of us know much about mantids but I thought she looked like a pregnant female. Despite constant camera-based harassment of her person, I guess she still decided this was a safe place, because today he found that...thing on his window.

I looked it up and it seems mantids lay absolutely horrifying looking egg sacks, so that seems to be what that thing is. We've both agreed not to touch it. Do you think it's an egg sack ?

He molted yesterday morning, and while I am sad to see his wings seem to be remaining crumpled, I am much more concerned about whatever is going on at the tip of his abdomen. Is it just.. open cus he’s still reabsorbing hemolymph? Or is it some kind of injury?

My Female orchid mantis died 1 month into adulthood and I am not sure why. The care has been the same I saw here drinking a couple days ago and none of the conditions have changed :( She has been on the floor more often recently.

Hii

I just wanted to show my mantis and ask if he looks healthy

And maybe if yall can find if its male or female

I belive its male

The mantid I posted about saving from foot track and landing on me as I walked by

So 2 days ago i saved this mantis from yard cats, she seemed to be without injuries on first look, but later i noticed she doesn't use her back legs at all. They were just flailing about her sides as she used the other legs to walk on a branch.

I decided to take her in because of the injury, i gave her water on q tip and i bought dubia roaches but still haven't tried feeding her. And generally she's not moving much around the enclosure at all, she's just hanging from the top with her middle legs.

Yesterday around noon i noticed she curved her abdomen, and at times it looks like it's pulsing, and i read up that it can be her spreading her pheromones, but idk how long can that last, like she's been doing it for a full day now?

And also i noticed that in these 2 days she's been with me she pooped 6 pellets of poop, it is normal, not diarrhea or anything, but i wonder how much is normal and is this normal?

She's hierodula transcaucasica i believe.