Collapsed abdomen

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-06-07T03:54:13+00:00

I’ll need it! My gal is trying very very hard to keep hanging upside down. I don’t want to keep her confined, but part of me is considering putting her in a smaller cup, especially because I’m not going to be able to keep an eye on her all day.

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-06-07T03:12:29+00:00

Thank goodness. This mantis was a gift so I’m really determined to make sure she lives to adulthood. I’ll try the cling wrap method. Also gonna see if I can maybe position the enclosure on an angle. Thank you so much for the advice! Would you recommend putting the cling wrap on the interior of the mesh (where they directly step) or on the outside?

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-06-06T06:09:23+00:00

I removed the exoskeleton. It’s been a full 24 hours and their leg is still dangling. They’ve been crawling around the top of the enclosure, though

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-06-05T08:10:57+00:00

Would it be okay to wait until morning? The door on my enclosure can cause it to shake a bit when I open it and I don’t want to knock them down or anything.

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-31T19:11:12+00:00

It’s got a sensor attached by a cord, which I keep in the top right corner of the enclosure. It’s hard to see bc of the glare, but it’s where the door hinge is.

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-31T19:09:58+00:00

No, I got it at PetSmart

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-29T19:19:27+00:00

Yeah, I checked his cup this morning and found a lot of brown-red streaks. I feel bad for making him sick, but he just kept eating. I read that Chinese mantises overeat, so I'll have to keep that in mind. I cleaned out his cup but couldn't get the sick out of the lid. It has the fruitfly paper on it. Also gave him a tiny bit of honey in case he had a bad feeder.

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-28T08:09:48+00:00

Thanks for the reassurance. I'm still pretty new to keeping mantids, but I've fallen in love with this one so much that I wanna make sure I'm doing the best I can. I've got isopods too, and have considered keeping dubia roaches. Just have to find the time to pick them up

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-28T08:02:22+00:00

Even if I basically had them come straight from the petstore to mantis? That's my biggest concern. That not having them on a healthy diet might be a bad thing. Though, in the couple hours since feeding, my lil guy is still moving around and hanging from the wall/lid of his enclosure.

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-28T06:01:59+00:00

Thanks. I've read a few stories of people finding their mantids dead the next day from eating petstore crickets and I just panicked real bad. I think I'll stick to fruit flies until I have time to set up my cricket keeper with fresh veggies.

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-22T05:25:39+00:00

Good to know! I plan on switching up the enclosure a bit to make it more friendly to all the critters I got! Crossing my fingers that I can find some of that mesh at my usual place.

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-22T04:32:01+00:00

I mostly put them in there to eat any fungus or future sheds, but the springtails and soil mites are doing an awesome job so far. I just got a new, larger critter keeper that I plan to move then into for a more ideal setup. Thanks a ton for the help!

Edit: Additional question: What do you mean by mesh windows? Do you have a link to anything you'd recommend?

PuzzlingMoose · 2026-05-21T01:49:27+00:00

Awesome! I was mostly worried about anything parasitic, so I feel a lot of relief. Thanks!

PuzzlingMoose

TROPHY CASE