Not all mantises are evil manfested. Ive heard of a couple of people who set up a reef just for their mantises.
to catch: take a standard drinking WATER bottle (ie no soap or any other contaminants) with an opening that the mantis should be able to fit through. cut the top part off, invert it and stick it back in the bottle upside down. Now you should have a rough cylinder shape with a funnel going into the bottle at one end. You can put some glue around the rough edge to make it stick better. Tie a string around the top so you can yank it out fast. Now just throw a piece of thawed frozen shrimp in and throw the whole thing in your tank. Now wait and watch. This may take a couple of tries and plenty of patience but it has been the most successful method out there.
the reason some people love these guys (me included) is because they are just so cool. for example: they can "hit" with 1400 N... same force as a .22 caliber rifle bullet at muzzle velocity. Many species have the ability to show polarized light signals and are the only known organisms on earth that are known to do this for communication. Humans have three colour pigments in our eyes... mantids have at least 16 and are undisputed in having the most complex visual system in the animal kingdom. in short they are highly evolved hunters and many are quite intelligent and interactive. If you don't want it, someone else will.
post a pic if you can get one
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