Q&A for How to Take Care of a Praying Mantis

Yes, but you don’t need to give it a water dish. Just lightly mist the sides of the tank with water once a day so that it can drink from the droplets.

Larger species can live for 4-6 months, while smaller varieties may only live for 4-8 weeks. Females typically live longer than the males.

It’s hard to say whether a mantis can recognize individual humans. They have excellent eyesight and will watch you closely. They are also unlikely to be aggressive toward humans (in other words, they don’t tend to mistake your fingers for food), so you can let them walk on your hand or perch on your shoulder without fear.

To obtain one from the wild, check in large bushes or anywhere cockroaches, butterflies, and other small insects may be. Look very carefully as they are great at camouflage. I found mine on a hummingbird feeder. In order to handle it, slowly and steadily place your hand (palm up) in front of the mantis. It may take a couple of minutes, but once the mantis deems you aren't a threat, it will slowly crawl into your hand. I have heard some mantises enjoy when you slowly stroke their abdomen.

Yes, but make sure that the spider is much smaller than the mantis. If the spider is bigger, it might eat the mantis instead.

Leave it until she is fully recovered. Handling it or feeding it may result in injury. She'll eat and move when ready, just keep caring for her.

Just spray the sides of the cage with a spray bottle when you see the cage has dried out.

You should feed it things like flies or potato bugs three times a day. If you see that your praying mantis starts crawling around its cage quickly, its a good time to feed it.

The amount in the egg sac can range from 100-200. It all depends on what kind of praying mantis you have.

Yes, just keep a close eye on it, and make sure to have room for the baby mantises when they hatch.

They are usually in a grayish sack attached to a twig. The sack has a ridge along the top. They will house 60-400 nymphs, depending on your species.

Nope, they will eat each other, unless it is a communal species (like violin mantis).

No. They need both front limbs to hunt. If they can't hunt, they can't survive.

As long as the crickets are smaller than the mantis, you should be okay. I would suggest you get the small crickets from the pet store.

In the wild it happens under 30 percent of the time, but it is more common in simulated environments.

If you want to keep it, help it make the transition slowly by creating a nice enclosed environment for him. Be sure it has enough air and lots of leaves, twigs and grass to eat and climb upon.

This depends on how long you have had them. When they are first born, they are 1/8 inch.

I can tell you that my Mantua has eaten ants, the smaller ones. I was concerned, just as the author indicated, that a larger ant might actually eat the mantis. Ours is fairly small.

The general rule of thumb is that the cage needs to be at least 3 times its size from top to bottom (so it has room to molt), by 2 times its size in width. The height is most important. Really a 32 oz cup or jar should do the trick for a mantis of any age.

It might not be a mantis sac. There is a good chance it is a spider sac so do some research to be sure.

Yes, because beetles are harmless to the mantis.

You can find them for sale on the internet.

This is kind of tricky. If you simply plop a male in with a female, chances are he will make an attempt to breed. There are no real ways to make mantises aware and kind to each other, but if you feed the female a lot right before breeding, it will reduce the chance of the male being eaten.

It depends on what you are talking about. If it is an individual egg, only one mantis will hatch from it. But if it is an egg sac (ootheca), it will contain approximately 100 to 200 eggs.

Hold the insect in front of them with tweezers so that it can't fly away and the mantis can catch it easily.

Most likely your praying mantis just stuffed herself. I would hold off on any more food until her abdomen returns to its normal size though.

I usually feed mine fruit flies, micro crickets, and gnats. All of the above will work.

A mantis could go about 2 weeks without food, but it shouldn't, so feed it at least every two days.

Keep the mantises together until around their second molt. You will never be able to fully prevent cannibalism, but if you constantly have a good supply of food in the enclosure, it will help the risk go down.

A mantis usually needs about 5-8 hours of sunlight. It is appropriate to darken its habitat at night. It will get all the nutrients it needs from its food. It does not require fertilizer.