Praying mantis are not poisonous and dangerous for humans, but their behavior and food choices make it difficult for pet stores like PetSmart to keep them at their stores. A few stores have mantis species and sell them to people interested in keeping them in captivity.
Does PetSmart Sell Praying Mantis? PetSmart does not sell praying mantis because they need living organisms for food and require proper housing and handling. They can also pose problems to breeders, sellers, and gardeners if they escape from the cage due to a carnivorous diet. PetSmart sells crickets that can be used as food for them. It also sells tongs or other related products to feed pet mantis.
PetSmart helps people improve their pets’ lives by providing pet food, accessories, or other services related to grooming and care. You can find almost everything for your pets at its store, but they keep a small number of insects and worms, according to customer demands. In addition, they sell food for pet mantis when insects are not abundantly available in winter.
Why are praying mantis not sold at PetSmart?
Praying mantis are available at online and physical pet stores because a few people show interest in keeping these tiny insects in captivity.
However, some local stores do not sell them because these insects are abundant in gardens. PetSmart does not have praying mantis, probably due to their natural abundance.
Many people capture these garden insects from the backyard and put them inside cages. Also, they remove egg sacs from tree branches and take them inside the house to provide a suitable environment.
These hatched eggs turn into nymphs and can be grown as pets at home. Accordingly, they do not prefer to get praying mantis eggs and adult mantis from stores when they can catch them easily.
In addition, people avoid spending money on them due to their short lifespan, as you cannot keep adults for more than a few months. Female mantis usually dies after laying eggs due to cold weather.
It is not possible to keep them in one container due to their cannibalistic and predatory nature. They have to be kept in separate jars or containers, which can be a problem for sellers.
Their cannibalistic nature leads to a significant decline in their population, which is considered a loss for stores because they spend money on housing and feeding.
Furthermore, they feed on live insects, worms, and other tiny creatures, so it is difficult to maintain their diet and provide the bulk of insects to them for eating.
Can you get food for the praying mantis at PetSmart?
Praying mantis feed on live insects and look for garden pests and soil worms in wild conditions, but they are dependent on owners in captivity.
Accordingly, people look for online and physical pet stores to get food for their pet mantis and search for live insects at Petco.
It sells live insects and worms that can be used to feed mantis in captivity. You can get mealworms at PetSmart for $3 to $5, depending on the count of worms in a pack.
A pack of 50 mealworms costs around $3, while it increases up to $5 for a pack of 100 mealworms. The cost of giant mealworms differs from regular ones as they cost around $4 for a pack of 35.
One small pack of mealworms is enough to feed them for many days because each adult mantis consumes only 2 to 3 worms daily.
Live waxworms are available at PetSmart and are good to consider as food for mantis. The cost of 50 waxworms is almost $5, which seems reasonable to spend on food for your pet.
They also sell live superworms in two different sizes, 25 and 50 counts. You can get a small pack for $4, while the larger pack costs $7.
It also sells crickets, and a few other species of worms are also present at its stores, including hornworms and night crawlers.
What types of insects are sold at PetSmart?
PetSmart does not sell a wide range of insects, but it offers live crickets as food for reptiles. These live insects can also be used as food for praying mantis in captivity.
They sell crickets due to high customer demand, as these insects can be widely used for various carnivorous creatures. So, you can also consider these protein-rich insects to feed their pets.
Moreover, each adult cricket costs approximately $0.12, which seems to be a budget-friendly rate for mantis keepers. This cost multiplies when you increase the number of crickets.
In addition, they are a low-cost option for owners because praying mantis eat almost 2 crickets in a day because their diet includes worms and other insects, too.
So, it is not an expensive food for your pet if you get 2 crickets at $0.24 from PetSmart and feed them on alternative days.
Does PetSmart sell products for praying mantis?
PetSmart offers various products, including some accessories required to feed them. These accessories include litter boxes, aquariums, litters, feeders, bowls, etc., for pet animals.
You can also look for some products for your pet praying mantis to make feeding and handling easier for yourself. Some people prefer hand-feeding, but it is better to look for tongs or tweezers.
These tongs and tweezers help feed live insects and worms to the pet mantis. It is better to pick them with tiny tweezers and bring them close to the pet’s mouth.
It helps reduce the struggle to capture the live food when the owners drop it inside their containers. Both plastic and steel tongs are available at their stores at a low cost.
One of my friends bought tweezers from PetSmart and told me about the low-cost products to make lives easier. I found a few of their products that are suitable for insect keepers.
In addition, the plastic feeding tongs cost around $5, while the steel feeding tongs are available for $10. I got plastic tongs, but you can choose the one according to your choice.
Small bowls and feeding plates or other accessories are also available that can be used to feed freeze-dried worms and other insects.
In addition, you can get a tank or container to keep your pet in an enclosed chamber. These products are not specifically designed for praying mantis but can be used for them, too.
What do people say about it?
PetSmart offers live insects and worms, but it only sells a small number of insects and other invertebrates that are high in customer demand.
“I tried to find praying mantis at PetSmart but came to know that they do not sell these insects.”
It sells different accessories that can be used for a wide range of pets, as tools for feeding the pets are available there.
“I bought a steel tweezer and a small bowl from PetSmart to feed mantis and put the bowl inside the cage to use as a feeder.”
It is not essential to find all types of known pets at stores because they only sell products or provide services that are feasible and profitable for them.
“It was shocking to know that this pet store does not sell praying mantis when searched for them at its official site because it is one of the leading pet stores in the US.”
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