xympa
New Aurelian
Posts: 2 
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Post by xympa on Sept 8, 2016 13:09:34 GMT
Hi, Yesterday I caught these two fellas jumping into my room, and caught them leaving them in an improvised terrarium, I'm not sure what they are exactly, I was thinking of keeping them as pets, but I'm not sure what to feed them... I left a couple of leaves and weeds in case they were herbivores, I also dropped a freshly killed fly in there but they didn't seem to care at all. What are they and what should I feed them? Images here, hopefully they are good enough to identify the family at least... mega.nz/#F!788iWaCD!Xa0vhjebnlpJuLL7xm7_9w |
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Post by Adam Cotton on Sept 8, 2016 14:32:57 GMT
These are two praying mantids. If you keep them together the larger one will eat the smaller one, so you should keep them separate.
They are carnivorous, but will ignore a dead fly. They need to be given live insects to eat, flies are fine, but they must be alive as the praying mantis will only recognise it as food if it is moving. You can also give them small grasshoppers, moths, and any other insect that moves about obviously. They will ignore a caterpillar sitting on a leaf for instance, because it isn't moving.
It would help if you gave a locality (at least country), as someone may be able to identify them more accurately then.
Adam.
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xympa
New Aurelian
Posts: 2
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Post by xympa on Sept 8, 2016 17:03:38 GMT
www.google.pt/maps/place/Pombal/@37.3611008,-7.9162332,6.5z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0xd2265d469d60bd3:0x5ef7c4d282ba0b2e!8m2!3d39.9167748!4d-8.6321415 Around here, I set the yellow one free and kept the green one for aesthetics purpose, I just caught some kind of butterfly or moth (sorry for my ignorance), guess I'll just have to wait now... mega.nz/#!Shc1FRzb!Bjqq3F7oJOJ4xwb55qAajqBIVy147tNOckMz0FVcMSQ Thank you for the information 
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Post by Adam Cotton on Sept 8, 2016 18:45:19 GMT
Ah, you're in Pombal, Portugal.
Yes, that is a moth, and the mantis will probably eat it soon.
Mantids make good pets. I remember when I was a boy I had one which I used to feed with corned beef. If you put a lump of corned beef on the end of a toothpick and wave it around near the head of the mantis it will grab it and eat it.
Have fun.
Adam.
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