hey, I recently got a mantis and I want to make sure she's properly taken care of, and I'm not sure if this is the place to ask but you're the first person that came to mind so... do mantids need enrichment of some kind, and if so, what can you do to provide it to them? thank you for your time!
I really don’t have mantis-specific knowledge, but I’ll see what I can do! I’ve seen the species-specific caresheets on this site recommended before, as far as general care and keeping goes.
Enrichment for insects can be as simple as changing up the environment of their habitat: put in some new (appropriately cleaned) sticks, or rearrange some of the extant furniture. Since mantis eat live prey, each feeding will be enriching, but especially if once they’re large enough to eat diverse prey safely you occasionally alternate what you’re providing (make sure this is appropriate for the species you have, of course).
I know @fimbry keeps mantis, so maybe they or other bugblr blogs can weigh in!
Enrichment for bugs in general is pretty simple! Depending on the species (and their adult size), a two gallon (for small species like Odontomantis sp., Acromantis sp. Amantis sp, etc) to ten gallon aquarium (for biggos like Tenodera sp., Heirodula sp., Rhombodera sp, etc) with mesh glued to to at least on of the walls (with a glue that dries without any residual stickiness–I’ve used hot glue for mine. Tape is dangerous and freshly molted bugs can easily lose limbs to an exposed sticky sliver of tape), as well as a mesh roof provides them with ample space the prowl about! Putting in an array of twigs, or planting a small plant in it provides excellent enrichment, as does providing a variety of prey items that it has to stalk and catch :D Just make sure that the enclosure isn’t overcrowded and has ample space to allow for safe molting. Here’s some examples of an enriching enclosure that uses fake ornaments:
And real plants:
With real plants, you may also end up with a few other denizens like worms, etc…which your mantis may happily snatch up, as well… And that’s fine, it’s perfectly healthy! “Enrichment” really just means providing an environment that allows the animal to present its full range of natural behaviors with ease and as it pleases. For a mantis, this means giving it some good space to prowl, and providing a variety of choices in places to sit in wait for prey–in a well lit, properly heated environment with a safe/appropriate source of moisture/water (which may mean daily misting for tropical species). The prey you choose for the mantis can also tie into enrichment. Dumping a bunch of flies or appropriately sized moths or grasshoppers into the enclosure is excellent enrichment, as these prey items will be very active and make use of the entire space (as opposed to crickets or mealworms, which will tend to burrow or hide away underneath things on the ground) It can be really fun to watch your mantis employ their ninja hunting skills on some of these food items!
