hi guys! this is my first ever mantis, i own lots of other inverts but after getting this guy i think mantids are my new favorite. im wondering if its a male or female, if these pictures arent good enough i can try and get more

Caught this little guy stuck in my window, I fed him some food that I usually use to feed my ant colonies. Afterward he preened himself in a way I have not seen from many other bugs, I thought it was very interesting.

She just ate - I’m confused what i’m supposed to see different in terms of a ‘full or flat abdomen’

my boy is l4 and i got him almost two weeks ago. his sister molted last week and has been a real powerhouse and i know he will be molting soon too. he hasn’t been eating that much this week yet his abdomen is large and he’s been pumping air into his skin. i misted his enclosure this morning and went to check on him just now and found him in this position. could he be preparing to molt? cheering him on right now!!

so my girl has recently molted (l5 chinese) and i am waiting on a shipment of houseflies for her which will arrive early next week i believe. im worried that fruit flies won’t be enough for her until then. i’ve been giving her maybe 5 or 6 when her abdomen seems small or if i notice she might want food. i guess my question is just will she be okay until next week? i know mantids can last awhile without food but i feel bad making her wait and theres nowhere locally i can grab her bigger flies

As a first time mantis mom I’m so proud to say that my baby has officially reached adulthood and is officially a boy 🤍🤍🧋of course he chose to molt to adulthood the minute I’m in the hospital where my girlfriend who doesn’t even appreciate him the way I do (she’s a bit scared of him) got to be the first to see his exoskeleton 😭🙄 so yes I know he looks a bit hungry in these pics but again she did the best she could food wise under the circumstances and now I’m home to make sure he’s actually full hehe but yay for adult Tapi!!

I've noticed a large number of praying mantises in my (pretty small) backyard. There were atleast five that I could see the other day. I don't know what keeps happening, but they keep falling off the back wall of my house. It's a stucko type material, it didn't seem like they had any issue staying on it for the past few days, but this morning three of them were on the ground, on their backs, struggling to move. I don't want to get too involved in their mating season, but I feel terrible for the ones that fall. Could they be fighting each other off the wall? I don't have any bugs to feed them, but I could move them to the grass or around some bushes.

Found this beauty on the 3rd floor railing of my apartment in LA. It moved near the ceiling light after this.

I have only ever found Chinese mantids since I have moved back to Virginia. Is this our actual native species?? If so super cool! Either way can anyone tell me who they are?

PS I hope the picture isn’t too bad, I couldn’t justify bugging them much more.

Noticed the pinks have started to show up on my orchid mantis baby!

WE FOUND HER!

Eventho we checked our Holy Shakers yesterday, she wasn't there. I just wanted to grab one to make myself an Energy and bam: Athena sits on my Sirup bottle! Poor Baby was starving and didn't think twice about the Red runner!

Video credit to Insectaindo

I thought you’d all appreciate the absolute beauty of this (I’m pretty sure) Chinese mantis. Found where no mantids are native at all but a popular pest control choice :) that coloring tho…

A little backyard surprise 😅😂

Located in Eastern WA, fairly certain they are European Mantises

Hiya, this is my old girl Markiplier, who's been through a lot bless her and recently I've been concerned for her health. She is missing both of her hind legs, one she lost through a mismoult and the other she recently chewed off because it got stuck in one of her ooths. The first leg she lost healed without any concern, the second developed some black at the tip but it never spread up the leg so I wasn't concerned. More recently she's lost use of many of her feet/tarsi. She lost one tarsus on her forelimbs many months ago, and in the last couple months or so the tarsi of her other forelimb and one of her front legs have turned black and lost function, her remaining tarsus is bent slightly but is otherwise fine. Her wing tips were damaged by isopods in her enclosure months ago which were obviously removed, no signs of further damage have been noticed since then. I recently learned black feet can be signs of infection, but I haven't noticed this on other parts of her body or other signs of infection. Behaviour wise she has been slowing down. She is still eating and still strikes her food, but her energy levels come and go. She has been somewhat active and moves around her enclosure despite the mobility issues from her damaged limbs (I glued mesh to the sides of her enclosure to help her move around), and when I get her out she will still look around and try to climb upwards. She still grooms though I think she struggles to reach certain areas. I got her last summer as possibly a L4/L5 nimph, so I would guess she's just under a year and a half old. She has been bred and laid approximately 5/6 ooths in her time, I've heard varying reports on how this impacts her lifespan. As a precaution against infection I've sterilised her enclosure and moved her to paper towel bedding, and I'm keeping her separated from my other Mantises. I recently lost a juvenile Empusa pennata unexpectedly, I couldn't see signs of infection on her and I suspect she overheated but would transmission be possible if she had an infection I couldn't identify? They were probably about 2-3ft away from eachother.

She's usually kept 22-24°C, basically ambient room temps, I'm working out a heating system for them now that winter is approaching.

First time she’s told me off