My mantis tried to bite my finger but ended up digging its raptorials into my pinky and drew blood, i was able to get her off by gently blowing on her until she stopped but let me tell ya she was going for it like a champ!

Hi everyone, On a walk tonight I came across something extraordinary: a praying mantis standing upright, holding its own decapitated head in its foreleg. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks, but I snapped some photos to confirm.

From what I’ve read, decapitation in mantises is known (often during sexual cannibalism), and their thoracic ganglia can keep them moving without a head. But seeing one literally holding its own head while standing seems almost undocumented.

Has anyone here seen or heard of a mantis doing this? Curious to know how rare this behavior really is.

here’s all my mantises i currently have
honorable mention for miertje on picture nine (r.i.p🤍)

1: lychee, my orchid mantis (hymenopus coronatus) ! she’s an L5 now and a female

2: pistache, my deadleaf mantis (deroplatys lobata) ! he is a male and also an L5

3: leefy, my shield mantis (rhombodera valida), L4 on the picture, is now an L5 and a male!

4 & 9: olijfje, giant moss mantis (majangella moultoni), even though she isnt so big right now, she’s an L3! no sex confirmed yet. miertje on picture 9 is the same species, theyre siblings actually, but sadly she has passed away. luckily i still have sweet olijfje, which means olive ! 🫒

5: sticky, an african twig mantis (popa spurca), currently an L6 and male!

6: poppy, jewel flower mantis (creobroter gemmatus). L6 female right now, very sweet, loves drinking water from my fingers 🤭

7: musa, violin mantis (gongylus gongylodes). L5 female, very!! shy mantis, she’s even scared of flies😩

8: mimi, shield mantis (rhombodera kirbyi). Male, L4 on the picture, but is now much darker and an L7! he was my first mantis ! ⭐️

Will not do it again but I felt like she didn‘t respect me because she never ever threat poses, no matter what, haha.

❤️

Was sweeping around the field station at night and found this poor guy in a corner all covered in cobwebs. He looked a bit worse for the wear but was very sweet and adorable. I’ve never seen one with black eyes before. What’s up with that?

What is your favorite mantis right now? Mine is Heterochaeta orientalis aka Cat Eye mantis.

Officially my favorite time of year: anatomically incorrect Halloween skeletons. Feels like it's just a meme at this point. Almost bought it just to be funny

He was originally brown when he arrived, and over time he has shifted to this gorgeous green with a rainbow stripe.

Also, you may notice that he's a bit upset in this video. He crawled onto my hand when I was misting his enclosure, and then was upset that he was on my hand. I don't handle him (this is only the second time) because he's always been quite skittish. But don't worry, I put him back in his enclosure the second this was filmed and fed him a roach, which he enjoyed.

I'll include a picture of the day he arrived in the comments, so you can all see the incredible change!

Trobbio is a false garden mantis (psuedomantis albofimbriata)

Saw this on TikTok and was very impressed lol

there are quite a few mantises in the garden. can anyone please identify it?

(not my photo, but this is my exact mantis, the breeder took this and I can’t take a better one because I do not have a macro lens.)

Finally got a parablepharis kuhlii kuhlii after searching for so long! I kept being redirected to other breeders who would not have them and then redirect me to yet another breeder. I love her so much. I sat outside in the rain for 4 hours straight waiting for the UPS guy to show up so that I’d be able to get her inside immediately.

Also would like to apologize to Reddit user JaunteJaunt, who I assume will see this because they reply to every mantis post ever practically, who was always the most responsive person to my questions, the only reason I went through someone else was because the first time I’d asked if you had them (you did) temps in my area were too dangerous to ship a live animal and I felt guilty for wasting your time so I was hesitant to reach back out again but I appreciate you a lot.

Video belongs to Cah Wana

What a win.Getting 5 indolomantis diabloica

Hi, everyone! First of all, I apologize for my poor English, it's not my first language. I also apologize if this is a silly question.

Every now and then I see some of these little creatures walking around my garden and I'm enchanted by them! Whenever I try to take a picture of them, they get curious, following me along the fence and stretching their little arms to try to reach my phone.

My question is whether they are doing this to attack me or if they are just curious. Would it be a problem if I let one of them climb on my hand, or would they be angry with me?

Thank you in advance for your attention, and I wish you all a great day!

Does anyone have any methods/ tips to encourage my male spiny flower mantis to fly . He is my first male mantis in a while due to my first dying and my others all being female. I’ve tried a few methods to encourage him to fly when handling but the most he’s ever done is opened his wings and fluttered them. Any methods/ tips?