Understanding the Position of Praying Mantises (with photo)

⚠ This guide is based on my experience; it should not be considered absolute. As with humans, every arthropod is different. And so is every situation. ⚠

HOWEVER there are still quite a few behaviors that come up frequently 😂.

This guide aims to give beginners a starting point for interpreting the positions and behaviors your praying mantis may adopt. We often see people panicking on forums, rightly or wrongly, and I hope to contribute my modest contribution here.

The triumphant mantis

(I'm quite proud of this name of mine)

This is truly the position of the "Alpha" mantis, its best position, so to speak. In this situation, everything is fine. As seen with this pretty Omomantis zebrata (look at that murderous look☠), the mantis is hanging upside down. Note that it can very well display this behavior up high but without being on the upper side of the terrarium.

Hanging down from the terrarium:

( here a deroplatys desiccata which proudly displays the exceptional body engineering of mantises)

First of all, note that this behavior can be displayed by certain mantises without it being abnormal (particularly the Deroplatys desiccata visible here). I took this species because I had it on hand in the right position.

Overall, if this position is really low, meaning the mantis's captors are almost touching the ground, it means your mantis is hungry. It moves closer to the ground to be on the lookout for any crawling insects unlucky enough to approach it.

The ground mantis:

⚠ Generally it's not a good sign ⚠

Except in a few cases:

1. I have frequently observed this position when my mantis is overfed. This is the case here. The Creoboter gemmatus has just devoured its post-mating male (I am a broken man) and the Hymenopus coronatus is being force-fed by me to compensate for the male/female growth discrepancy inherent in the species.
   
   2. Your praying mantis is a very aggressive species, like the Hierodula picta, which literally jumps on its prey. If you're unsure whether your species is particularly aggressive, reread its breeding record. Even then, in this case, it will generally be very close to the ground, but not directly on it.

If you are not in any of these situations, don't panic if it is temporary. However, if it lasts more than 24 hours, check all your parameters carefully. Is she well fed? Is the temperature right? Is she laying?

Hanging from a branch at mid-height:

(ATTENTION: This Sibylla Pretiosa is not going to molt, it is already an adult, this is an illustration image)

If your mantis is hanging halfway up the terrarium from a branch or near a branch, this will very often mean that it is preparing to molt.

⚠⚠⚠ This is perhaps the most important moment of this modest guide: LEAVE HER ALONE ⚠⚠⚠. She can sometimes stay in this position for several days and if she does not feed you can be sure that this is it: she is going to molt and is very fragile, leave her alone and do not leave any prey in her terrarium that could hurt her, stress her or bother her.

The "excited ass mantis that moves everywhere for nothing"

(here is a young adult male Deroplatys Desiccata, it is the future partner of the female that I showed you earlier)

⚠ Generally it's not good if it lasts ⚠

This could be due to many things, so as usual, we check the parameters carefully: Does it last over time? Hygro and temperature? Food? Water (yes, mantises drink, contrary to what we sometimes read)? Clean substrate?

Was there a mistake? Great, fix it and get back to you in 24 hours.

Here, this male, who is quite active, is simply looking for his female with a view to mating. He will probably stop eating in order to lighten his weight and be able to fly at her. Let's wish him luck!

Final note:

*Don't panic too quickly , sometimes excessive interaction from the novice breeder will do much more harm than inaction. Be concerned if unexplained behavior lasts more than 24/48 hours. Insects are by nature very resilient, trust them (unless it's 40 degrees in the terrarium😁).

*The behaviors listed here do not apply to all mantises. Some mantises have very specific behaviors depending on their species. These include Deroplatys desiccata and Hierodula picta, which I have presented to you here.

*Each specimen may have its own peculiarities . Humans are gregarious animals, however some prefer to be alone. Praying mantises like to hang out upside down, however... You get the idea, the key is observation 😉. For example, my female Hymenopus coronatus likes to stay halfway up the terrarium all the time, while her male is truly the "triumphant" mantis, always upside down, waiting for prey.

That's all for me, don't hesitate to contact me on social media if you have any questions:

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