How to Keep a Pet Praying Mantis Without a Cage

When people decide to keep a praying mantis as a pet, they typically choose to house the mantis in a cage with a lid that locks securely so their pet does not get away. However, if you provide the praying mantis with an environment she likes and plenty of food, chances are good that she will choose to stay.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Find an area in your house in which to keep the praying mantis safely. A bay or bow window, a shelf near a window, or any other small space in your house can be a suitable spot for a praying mantis to call home.

2. Place a few medium to large plants in the area where you want the praying mantis to live. A praying mantis likes to climb and spends little time on the ground. Additionally, praying mantises molt, which means they shed their skin and increase drastically in size. Praying mantises need to hang upside when molting.

3. Feed your praying mantis daily. A mantis eats most insects that are smaller than she is. Offer her a daily variety of crickets, flies, ants, bees, grasshoppers and any other insect you are able to catch. One advantage to not caging your mantis is she keeps your home and plants free of other bugs.

4. Mist the plants on which you keep your praying mantis daily. Praying mantises get most of their moisture from the insects that they eat, but they also drink droplets of water from plants. Mantises also need humid environments, so daily misting helps keep the humidity level up.

Tips & Warnings

• A praying mantis takes less than a year to complete its life cycle. Many adult praying mantises live about six months.
• Never pick up your praying mantis because you might hurt her. Instead, if you wish to hold your mantis, hold out your hand, palm up, and let her walk onto it. It might take her some time to trust you because she views you as a predator, but after she gets used to you she may come and land you on her own.
• Adult praying mantises can fly; however, they rarely choose to.
• If you allow a praying mantis to live in your home without being caged, take care where you walk. Although they do not spend a lot of time on the ground, they do sometimes travel there.
• Check local laws before deciding to keep a praying mantis as a pet. It is illegal to do so in some areas.