# Mantis not eating!



## snottysnowy (Dec 13, 2009)

My mantis had a molt on saturday night, and it appears that it hasn't eaten since, there are plenty of crickets (4) in there for it to eat, it watches them but never seems to want to strike at them or eat, i spray the wall of the tank every other day and humidity is fine. Is this common for them not to eat after a molt? As they starve before the molt aswell. Seems like i have the worlds softest mantis as it never seems to want to attack anything..lol


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## reptilrikki (Dec 5, 2009)

hi mate how bigs your mantid what species and what size crickets you feeding a lot of mantids wont eat straight away because there still waiting for there skin to harden and its awkward for them to hold there prey i ust to breed ghosts and thats what alot of them did


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## Sollytear (Aug 7, 2008)

Wait a few days after moulting. If u try and feed him it may make this time longer. After a few days undisturbed, get a cricket, take its head off and use ur tweesers to get the ooozing juices on his mouth. If he refuses to eat, hes not hungry. If he wants it, he will take it. Dont worry. They can last a long time without eating if htye want to


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## snottysnowy (Dec 13, 2009)

cheers, thanks for the replies, i thought it was waiting for the skin to harden aswell. If It hasnt fed by saturday ill see if i can hand feed it the way you suggested. Thanks again


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## LFG (Apr 2, 2007)

probably best not to have crickets in there if he's freshly moulted - they can nibble on mantis and cause damage.

there is a school of thought that suggests crickets are not a good food for mantis, as they tend to be host to the same bacteria which can cause illness and death in mantis. I'm no entomologist, so wouldn't call it either way, but personal experience is I have had a lot less unexplained fatalitied in my mantis (I breed them in the hundreds) since dropping crickets from the menu in favour of locusts and flies.


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## Seansmegghead (Nov 17, 2009)

2 of my giant sheild mantis are just striking crickets but not holding them... not sure if this is by accident (them falling out of grasp) or what.

as for the bacteria thing, is this only with black crickets?
cheers.


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## Sollytear (Aug 7, 2008)

Grabbing and not eating is normal. 
Think of it in two ways, 1 they want to get the item to stop annoying them, and 2, they may get confused. Eyes too big for their belly, in our words.

Bateria thing I disagree with and think its a load of poo poo. Chineese whispers. I have used crickets, locusts, roaches, waxies, mealies, and flies. I liked roaches all in all, but that was cause they were damn easy to use. I also know people that have exclusively used flies, or another item. And they have had "the black death". Its just a mantis illness.


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## andie (Sep 23, 2007)

Its not uncommon for a newly shed mantis to stop feeding for a week and up to 2 weeks after molting, so just hang in there it will feed when its ready. As already mentioned a mantis will push away food items if it dosent want to eat.
Crickets more so black crickets _Gryllus bimaculatus_ should be used cautiously when feeding to mantids because of the connection between them and mantids dieing. It is believed that crickets can harbour bacteria in their gut perhaps from dirty food and from being kept in less than hygenic conditions prior to being sold on to the consumer. There is some evidence to suggest that clean home cultured crickets are safer to use. Although other inverts and vertebrates cope with crickets without any problems, it does appear that mantids are susceptable. No crickets should be fed to any of the flower mantid species. They seem to be particularly susceptible .


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