Hey /an/, I need some help
I got myself a young Paradoxa praying mantis a week back and I have trouble getting it to eat. It came with a bunch of fat lazy, flightless fruitflies so I let it finish those before I ordered new ones. My local pet store had some issues with their shipment of fruitflies and I wont be getting them until friday (should have gotten them on monday)
I've caught some harmless critters in my garden but now the problem is that it's terrified of everything. It doesn't even attempt to hunt it, only attacking it to defend itself and then bail. I've tried all kinds of things like tiny harmless spiders, ladybugs, tiny beetles but nothing. I've tried leaving them in his cage overnight, feeding it to him with tweezers, feeding him with a needle because the tweezers terrify him as well, but nothing.
I'm guessing it's just used to fat fruitlies walking into his mouth but might there be another reason why it's not eating? I don't think it's sick because it's pretty energized. It could be preparing for a mold but I'm not sure about that. It hasn't eaten since saturday night so I kinda want to make sure there's nothing wrong with him. Is it normal they dont want to eat for a while sometimes? His tail is not that round anymore so he should be pretty hungry.
tl;dr my mantis is a pussy who is terrified of his prey and doesn't know how to hunt.
anyone?
>>2052666
Might be about to molt
no idea
Here's what I do when my baby Mantids have trouble eating: I get some small crickets from the local pet store. If they're small enough, I stab them onto the end of a toothpick and rub them against the mantids mouth. He'll taste them and begin to eat them, and once he grabs it with his hands you can carefully pull the toothpick out.
This is a bit more gruesome, but you can also kill the cricket and cut it in half and put the juicy cut end of the cricket against the mantids mouth, which he will instantly begin eating.
>>2053693
And I'm sure this would work with fruit flies as well. Kill a fruit fly, and place it onto the end of a toothpick and rub it against the mantids mouth.
>>2052666
Omg, that fucker is adorable.