Hi people, by the way this is my first thread. Yay! So, I just recently caught a praying mantis, its quite small and has no wings yet, so I believe its a nymph. Anyway, it won't eat ANYTHING! What's wrong? I have tried feeding it ants, winged ants, everything, but it won't eat! Can somebody please help me, and quickly?! HELP HELP HELP confused:(

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO,

DDR

Welcome to pf!

How big is the Mantis? Although you are quite right that it is probably a numph still. Ants and winged ants might be a little too small for it, even if the Mantis is small itself. You could try crickets (you can get tubs of live ones from most pet shops), butterflies, catapillars, flies, moths etc. Mantids are hunters so will prefer to "catch" the prey on its own.

Can you provide any photos of the Mantis? I don't keep Mantids myself but hopefully someone can help identify it

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Okay, so I'll try to get crickets. The problem is my mom isn't too comfortable with the pet "bugger", so crickets kinda will make it worst, but there are crickets in the backyard, so I'll try to catch those. And Ill post pics.

Here are some pics.

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Heres another pick:

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Oh my! He's so very small, isn't he? (Or she )

Hopefully someone can come along and help. (My mother doesn't particuarly like insects either but she puts up with my sitck insects )

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Hi - your mantid looks fine. Its body seems quite plump and so it may not be hungry. Mantids can go for days without eating; you only need be concerned if its body looks flat but your mantid's body isn't flat. Ants are not a good food source. Your mantid is relatively big and mantids can eat insects and creatures much larger than themselves. Flies are good; just put some cat food on a saucer outside and the flies will soon come to the food. You can then catch the flies or just leave the mantid on the saucer and it will catch them! Sometimes mantids can catch one fly straight after another, even storing one fly in a front leg whilst it eats the other fly!

Thanks, just a quick question. how much would be overfeeding?
Like now that its eating, i give it 3 spiders/fruit flies/other small bugs a day. is that enough or too much?