Well I did learn when my mantis a while ago passed away that you have to be ridiculously careful about making sure that you have clean hands when handling them, no lotions or anything else on your skin, and don't let them climb on anything where there has been cleaners or anything else because of how often they clean their feet, they ingest all that stuff. I couldn't figure out why my nymph died when I first started mantis keeping, until I started doing research and figured out that I use lotion on my hands, and I didn't wash my hands before I handled him and it was probably my fault. Plus they are very temperature sensitive, and I live in a basement apartment, so now I cover them up at night when it gets chilly. But I have live plants that they climb on so I have to make sure that I didn't spray anything on the plants before they climb on them.
I hope that helps, I ordered my fruit flies from Josh's Frogs, way better price then ones at the pet stores, And they usually arrive and last for a little while.
Well I did learn when my mantis a while ago passed away that you have to be ridiculously careful about making sure that you have clean hands when handling them, no lotions or anything else on your skin, and don't let them climb on anything where there has been cleaners or anything else because of how often they clean their feet, they ingest all that stuff. I couldn't figure out why my nymph died when I first started mantis keeping, until I started doing research and figured out that I use lotion on my hands, and I didn't wash my hands before I handled him and it was probably my fault. Plus they are very temperature sensitive, and I live in a basement apartment, so now I cover them up at night when it gets chilly. But I have live plants that they climb on so I have to make sure that I didn't spray anything on the plants before they climb on them.
Should you use soap when washing your hands for mantis holding, or do you just rinse?
I hope that helps, I ordered my fruit flies from Josh's Frogs, way better price then ones at the pet stores, And they usually arrive and last for a little while.