Dead Leaf Mantis Care Sheet

The Giant Dead Leaf Mantis is a cool choice for an invert, while one of the larger mantis species, these would live well in a 20x20x30cm terrarium, especially with a Ficus or Bromeliad to latch onto, as in the wild they will try to camouflage themselves onto sticks and small branches. They are ferocious eaters and will pretty much eat anything placed into the enclosure.

Dead leaf mantis do well with a glass terrarium as their enclosure. This is because glass is great at allowing heat to escape, ensuring that the enclosure stays cool enough. Other enclosures such as wooden vivariums, are far too efficient at retaining heat.

The manit's terrarium should be at least 200mm in length and 300mm in height. The Dead Leaf Mantis is going to grow to around 8cm so they need a space large enough for them to move around in.

Dead leaf mantis' require a near constant air temperature of 73-80°F. This is best achieved by sticking a heatmat on one side of the glass enclosure. This heatmat is regulated using a thermostat to make sure the temperature stays constant.

As the glass is only being heated on one side this also creates a small temperature gradient within the enclosure allowing the mantis to warm itself up or move away to cool down.

Dead leaf mantis are a tropical species and need a fair amount of humidity. They should always be allowed at least 2'' to ensure enough water is being retained after a morning spray. We find the best substrate for this mantis is a soil mix called Spider Life.

The mantis' terrarium can be decorated with artificial plants for a more natural look. Small natural wood ornaments look very effective and also provide further perches for the mantis. Trailing plants are very good at catching water and providing an easy-to-reach water source.

Dead leaf mantis' are carnivorous and have a diet consisting of live insects. The core of the livefood diet should be high in protein and relatively easy to digest. We have found that brown crickets are the most readily accepted. As a small mantis 1 or 2 appropriately sized crickets should be fed every other day. As they get bigger, they may be able to take a third, but you need to make sure none are left inside for long periods of time as they may try to attack your mantis.

Praying Mantis, as with most pets, require a clean environment to thrive. We recommend a spot clean as often as possible (every day) and a full clean every 4 weeks or so. If you are keeping the snake in a bioactive enclosure, you can spot clean and monitor the enclosure. It may still be a good item to change out the bedding a few times per year.

When cleaning the enclosure, you should remove your animal, all decorations, and all of the bedding. Once the enclosure is clear, you can spray it all over with a reptile-friendly disinfectant. These usually work very quickly and only need to be left for around 30 seconds. Instructions can normally be found on the disinfectant packaging. Once the disinfectant has done its work, it can be wiped away from the surfaces with a paper towel. In some cases, you might want to repeat this process a second time to ensure that the enclosure is thoroughly cleaned.

Your decorations can be cleaned in a similar method, simply spray them down with the disinfectant and rinse thoroughly with water before drying them off and putting them back into the enclosure. We recommend this process be done during the daytime to make sure that the Mantis will be going back to a warm vivarium for at least an hour before the basking lamps are turned off for the night.