Praying mantis actively engage in various activities to capture prey and avoid predator attacks. They are prone to injuries due to their agile nature and hunting behavior. They can recover from injuries after a certain period of time but also need help from humans.
Can I Help an Injured Praying Mantis? You can help an injured praying mantis by assessing its health condition, isolating it, avoiding excessive handling, sealing open wounds, providing the best habitat, offering good food, hydrating its body, and taking it to an expert in case of severe injuries. They can heal themselves but need proper care and attention for quick healing and protection.
Many people feel happy to help an injured bird, animal, or insect after finding them in their yards or doorsteps. They have specific adaptations to heal from wounds, but you can help them by speeding up the healing process and protecting them during recovery.
Why should you help an injured praying mantis?
Praying mantis are pretty small and active creatures that keep moving all around their habitats in search of food and shelter. They can get injured after falling from plants while moving around.
In the same way, injuries can also occur when they escape predators by breaking their legs off the body or defending themselves against their sharp teeth.
You should help them quickly heal their wounds and avoid the risk of infection. Their injuries can get bad without cleaning due to the increased risk of bacterial or fungal infection.
It is more likely for a wounded mantis to get infected with pathogens, and their lifespan decreases ultimately. So, you can clean and seal their wounds to avoid pathogen exposure.
In addition, the injured mantis are also prone to predator threats as they cannot defend themselves appropriately. Predators can easily engulf their bodies due to a lack of defensive retaliation by them.
Accordingly, you should provide a safe spot during the recovery phase that can help avoid contact with predatory organisms.
How can you help an injured praying mantis?
It is easy to help an injured praying mantis through different means, but it is better to avoid contact with them if you do not know about it.
Assess health condition
First, assess the mantis’ health condition by observing their physical activity rate and response to your presence. A healthy praying mantis actively flies away after seeing you.
However, physically unfit mantis remains there due to a lack of movement abilities after an injury to a leg or other body part. The broken legs and wings do not support any movement.
So, look at their condition carefully to interpret their situation and type of wounds before taking any measures in their favor.
Additionally, do not make any hurry to hold them in your hand for a closer view because they are already under stress due to injury.
Isolate the praying mantis
It is better to isolate the praying mantis after finding wounds on their body. They feel safe and comfortable in isolation, which is good for a quick recovery process.
I saw a mantis on my doorstep a few days back with a broken leg, and I put a small cardboard box on it. Make a few small holes in the box to maintain airflow inside the box.
Moreover, they do not need a large amount of oxygen to survive; that’s why only a few holes are enough to ensure breathing in them.
This isolation protects them from external air elements and predators until their wounds heal. Keep them in isolation till recovery and leave them in their habitat afterward.
Avoid excessive handling
Praying mantis generally do not like to be held in their hands, and excessive handling puts them in stressful conditions. Accordingly, you can help them in the healing process by keeping them alone.
They do not feel comfortable around humans or areas of high human activity. So, keep them in an area with less foot traffic to avoid interference. Do not make noise around them to reduce stress.
In addition, they have sensitive and fragile bodies that can get damaged when you hold them in your hands. Keep them inside a container without touching them until their wounds heal properly.
Seal the wounds
Helping an injured praying mantis involves caring for their bleeding wounds through disinfection and cleaning.
Avoid rubbing their bodies to reduce the risk of damage to fragile bodies. Seal their wounds with a fingernail hardener to avoid the spread of infectious organisms.
You can also use home ingredients, like cornstarch, to seal their wounds on the abdomen. Ideally, cotton buds are good to use for their wounds due to their soft nature.
In addition, you can also apply other topical solutions for cleaning with the help of a soft brush. These solutions help clean the wounds and initiate clot formation on the affected spot.
Provide the best habitat
You can provide a suitable habitat for the praying mantis in which they feel happy, comfortable, and calm. Such an environment speeds up their recovery process and aids in wound healing.
Less humid and dry conditions stress their health, so you should provide a warm or humid environment for their better survival.
Maintain an ideal environment in the tank or jar and shift the injured insect to it. Observe the internal moisture level and temperature, as dehydration can complicate the healing process.
I have kept my mantis inside a small glass tank as I can see its activities through it. I can see its recovery phases by observing the movement and eating behavior.
Offer good food
Offering good food to them as a protein-rich diet improves the healing process. They need a healthy diet to heal their wounds and recover quickly.
They prefer to eat small and alive insects, like crickets, mosquitoes, caterpillars, aphids, and other tiny insects that are easier to engulf through the mouth.
Moreover, feeding them with tweezers is better than leaving them inside the cage because they cannot capture food with an injured body.
Hydrate their body
Moisture is crucial to the survival of praying mantis as dry bodies are prone to physical damage. They cannot survive longer in dry conditions, so you can help them by misting their bodies.
Spray water inside their cage or put a water bowl to keep the internal environment moist. This way, they can heal a broken leg or abdominal wound efficiently.
Take to an expert entomologist
Lastly, you should take it to a professional if you do not know ways to take care of it. The professionals will treat their wounds through proper methods.
Moreover, they have proper medications and know the methods to aid in the healing process of a broken leg. They can also guide you about taking care of the pet mantis.
How long does an injured praying mantis take to recover?
Praying mantis can recover from injuries, whether it is a small abdominal wound after a defensive fight with predators or a broken leg from falling.
The time it takes to recover from wounds depends on the severity of the injuries. The deep wounds take longer to heal than the superficial cuts or bruises.
A broken leg takes several weeks to heal, while they can recover from minor cuts on their bodies quickly.
Moreover, the healing process gets faster if you help the mantis by providing an ideal environment. A few of them do not get the opportunity to recover and become food for the predators.
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