The following article is a general care sheet for keeping praying mantids. For a more detailed care sheet on a specific species click on one of our praying mantis species to get a more accurate care sheet for caring for your pet.
Praying mantis are without doubt one of the most interesting invertebrates you can keep as a pet. With their triangular neck and big eggs along with their front hook legs they are quite a unique insect.
Caring for Praying Mantis
Of over 2,000 different species of mantis there are only a small number that are available to keep in the hobby. Caring for these different mantis will generally differ through temperature, humidity level and feeding requirements.
It is best to start with a species that is easy to keep such as: the European Mantis, African Mantis or Asian Mantis, before moving on to a species that is more difficult to care for such as: the Orchid or Devil’s Mantis.
Praying mantis inhabit warmer to tropical parts of the world. They can be found in many different parts of the world from Southern Europe, North and Latin America, Africa as well as Asian. They are commonly found above ground: in tall grass, bushes or in trees. Their camouflage mimics leaves and blades of grass where they hide motionless waiting for unsuspecting insects to walk past before lunging their hooks front legs forward in order to capture the prey.
If you want to keeping praying mantids you will need to recreate a warm and humid environment. It is important to note that the enclosure you keep them in should be at least three times higher than the praying mantis is long to ensure the praying mantis has enough space to moult.
Praying Mantis Tank
The first step creating the ideal housing conditions for your praying mantis is to find a suitable cage for your mantis.
The enclosure you keep your praying mantis in should be at least 2x longer than the praying mantis and 3x taller than the mantis is long. This is to ensure than the praying mantis has enough space to moult. If the mantis does not moult properly it could get stuck in its skin and die or in a better case scenario: lose a leg. A bad moult is the most likely cause of death for a praying mantis. To reduce the case of a bad moult you will need a suitably sized container to keep your mantid in as well as maintaining appropriate humidity levels.
Some care sheets recommend a container that is 2x taller than the praying mantis, however, since there will likely be decorations in the terrarium I prefer to use a tank that is 3x larger to ensure the decorations are not taking up potential moulting places.
No Way of Escape
It should go without saying that the container you use should be escape proof. You don’t want to lose your pet as you may never find it again! Make sure that ventilation holes in the terrarium are not large enough for your mantid to escape through. The lid should also have a tight fit to prevent mantids from escaping from under the lid.
Visibility of the Enclosure
When choosing a suitable cage, choose one that allows for good visibility such as a glass tank, cricket keeper, Plexiglas/Perspex, or even a storage container.
Heat Retention
Although most praying mantids will be happy with the summer time temperatures of most households, you may have to provide them with a heat mat to ensure that the do not get too cold and die. The ideal heat for most praying mantis is 25C. This temperature can be attained by using a heat mat. Plastic cages retain heat better than glass cages and are cheaper. However, a glass cages offer better visibility.
Access to Cage for General Care
Your praying mantis cage should be easy to access and get into. You will be doing routine tasks such as feeding, misting the cage and cleaning up parts of uneaten food so having a cage that is easy to access will make the routine tasks easier for you as a praying mantis keeper.
Suitable Cages for Praying Mantis
Now that the importance of size and the main features of a good praying mantis enclosure have been covered. Let’s delve into the topic of finding a suitable cage.
The type of cage you get for your mantis will mostly depend on the size of mantis you are keeping. Baby praying mantids or “nymphs” can be as small as a centimetre in size when they first hatch yet reach sizes larger than 10cm in some species. Therefore, if you put a small praying mantis into a tank that would be suitable for an adult you may never see it. Additionally, the tank might be too large for your praying mantis to find food in its enclosure. Keep your small praying mantis in small cages and then house them in larger cages as they grow.
Nymph Enclosures
For small nymph and juvenile praying mantis’ I like to use live food tubs and other plastic containers big enough to house the individual.
Adult Mantis Enclosures
Larger or even adult praying mantis’ can be kept in larger containers such as sweet jars or plastic containers such as critter keepers. These are great for viewing your pet praying mantis and they allow you to create a nice realistic terrarium set up.
Feeding Pet Praying Mantis
When it comes to feeding praying mantises, they will readily accept most feeder foods: crickets, cockroaches, mealworms will all be eaten by the available beginner species of mantids. The advanced species of praying mantis will require more specialised prey.
Cleaning the Mantis Terrarium
One of the many benefits of keeping praying mantises is that they hardly require any cleaning. Since they do not produce much waste all you will have to do, as part of your regular enclosure maintenance, is clean up any uneaten prey items.
To clean the whole enclosure, simply remove all the substrate and wash the inside of the terrarium with hot water. Using detergents or soap may harm your pet mantis so avoid using chemicals when cleaning your mantis’s enclosure. Once the tank is dry, you can add fresh substrate and put back the any decor.
Website
For more information on pet keeping visit:www.petcaresheet.com.
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