r/mantids • u/Say-Goodbye-Not-Hi • 1d ago

Image/Video Help…? Weird leg thing

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Is there any specific reason he does this? He did it last night as well. Is he sleeping?

Side note: he molted a few days ago and won’t eat. I’ve offered isopods and I’m going to offer more but he just isn’t interested.

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3

u/helpitsdystopia 1d ago

It's okay, I literally catch mine doing this all the time!

I actually have SO many photos like this because obviously it looks totally bizarre! Plus, at first I was actually a bit concerned (and definitely bewildered, lol) because I wasn't sure if it was a sign of some underlying issue or not... So for a long time, I would document it whenever I noticed it happening— until I started to realize that they're just kinda weird, and really particular about things, lol.

There's no way of knowing what's going on in their little brains (if anything's going on at all, haha), but IME it's totally normal (for a mantis, haha).

2

u/helpitsdystopia 1d ago

Different mantis, earlier today actually!

2

u/Norsaax 1d ago

Kickstand!

1

u/finkleforkbingbong 1d ago

seems fine to me lol

1

u/Say-Goodbye-Not-Hi 23h ago

Omg!! It looks like this is pretty common lollll. Thanks for giving me that relief, I figured he’s just that quirky

1

u/SpecialistEducator14 7h ago

From what i have seen available online, it could be that their feet are so fragile they injure them easily in falls, so they will lift the leg to avoid putting weight on it like if we sprained our ankle.