Many people know about the food preferences or hunting skills of praying mantis and their abilities to hunt larger prey animals, but a few know about their water needs.
How Do Praying Mantis Drink Water? Praying mantis can drink water from puddles, body fluids of prey, dewdrops on plants, raindrops on grass, and moisture from the air by consuming the droplets from leaves, ground, and air. You can give water to pet mantis by misting their cage, adding a water station, spraying with houseplant guns, and giving a high-water diet.
They need water to ensure survival like all other living organisms because humid conditions and hydrated bodies favor easier molting and prevent drying of bodies.
How does a praying mantis drink?
Praying mantis drink water to hydrate their bodies, which is essential for survival, but it hydrates in a different manner. The wild species usually drink water from puddles on the forest floor.
They collect moisture from the atmosphere when there is high humidity in the external environment and objects on the ground surface are wet.
They absorb moisture by reaching wet places as their bodies remain hydrated in humid conditions even if they do not drink any liquid material for many days.
In addition, the small puddles also form after rain, providing a good water source for these tiny insects when there is lower humidity.
In the same way, they drink the body fluids of prey animals after grabbing their bodies and killing them with ferocious attacks of spiked forelegs.
Their hemolymph is a nutritious fluid, which can provide nutrition and energy to praying mantis to perform activities.
Moreover, they drink dew drops on the leaves because they are sufficient to meet their body requirements.
They also consume tiny drops of water, usually on the grass after rains but avoid reaching areas flooded with water. They sit on slightly wet grass to wet their bodies and remain hydrated.
Furthermore, they use their mouth or tongue to drink water by licking the surfaces of leaves and grass blades.
How do you give water to a pet praying mantis?
You should know the requirements and ways of handling a pet praying mantis because they have specific food and water requirements.
It is better to avoid excessive wetting in a cage environment because there is little ventilation in their cage.
Misting of cage
You can mist the praying mantis cage with a mister or any other suitable device like a houseplant mister. You can mist enclosure walls to leave drops of water that keep the internal environment moist.
It helps maintain the humidity level until the drops evaporate completely. You can also mist their bodies, but it is better to avoid this because it can cause discomfort.
Moreover, the water should not be hot enough to raise the temperature of the cage environment or burn their bodies. You can mist the cage with room-temperature water and leave drops inside.
In addition, you can mist artificial plantations inside the cage as they naturally drink water drops from the surface of leaves and stems.
High-water diet
You can feed praying mantis with a high-water diet and hydrate their bodies with the body fluids of prey animals and other insects.
They contain almost 54 to 80% water content and other essential nutrients, like proteins and fats. This content reduces in dead animals when they start decaying.
So, you can feed live insects to avoid the risk of dehydration and increase the number of insects when you find your pet dying due to dehydration.
Put a bowl of water
They do not need a large amount of water to keep themselves hydrated as a humid environment also prevents drying. Accordingly, a bowl of water maintains humidity inside the enclosure.
In addition, you have to keep the bowl clean and wash it after 2 or 3 days to avoid mold growth and other contaminating agents.
Change or refill the bowl when it gets empty after evaporation of water. It helps keep your pet moist and avoid the risk of drying.
Add watering station
You can put a bowl of water inside the cage to keep an internal environment humid because these insects do not directly drink water from the bowl.
A watering station is a shallow dish filled with spring or distilled water. It also contains small cotton balls that can soak the liquid and remain wet for a long.
Accordingly, it ensures that they do not suffer from dehydration for some days until the water evaporates and the cotton balls get dry.
You can raise the station to height because they do not come down to the floor to drink water. Fix a bowl to some height and use glue to attach it firmly.
Houseplant spray gun
You can use a houseplant spray gun to sprinkle water inside the cage, as it allows better coverage of space when you keep the direction of the nozzle towards the walls.
In addition, sprinkle water on the roof side and outer surface of the cage to wet the dry environment.
It also helps save time and effort to increase the humidity level within the cage and is easy to use. It is better to mist the enclosure slightly instead of wetting the floor and walls.
How often do praying mantis drink?
Praying mantis do not drink much water as their bodies can hydrate with a few water droplets. There is no need to refill the water bowl daily, as they do not drink directly from the bowl.
Only 2 to 3 squirts are enough to make their environment wet because they need minimal water to hydrate themselves. Accordingly, light spraying is sufficient for them when you spray daily.
In addition, these insects prefer to live in moist or humid conditions for efficient molting and to avoid drying. They can live for only 2 to 4 days without water.
Naturally, their bodies resist water loss because the hard outer shell or exoskeleton acts as a barrier between the body and the environment that keeps them moist for a long.
Moreover, the misting frequency also depends on external temperature and humidity level because their cage gets dry quickly in hot weather.
You can mist their cage after a day or two as they feel safe in humid conditions, so you have to take special care of the humidity level and ensure that their cages do not get dry.
Can you give tap water to a praying mantis?
Praying mantis have sensitive bodies and stomachs that cannot tolerate toxic substances as these toxins can affect their health badly.
Do not give tap water to your pet because it is not considered safe for these insects. It contains chlorine in higher amounts, usually added for the purification process.
It is not healthy for pets and even humans if it is not passed through a carbon filter to reduce its toxicity. This chlorinated tap water is deadly for mantis due to high chlorine.
Accordingly, you can use other suitable alternatives for your pet, as spring water is completely safe for these insects commonly available at grocery stores.
Transfer this into a spray bottle and correctly mist their cage to increase humidity by leaving its few drops on their inner walls and floor.
In the same way, distilled water and reverse osmosis water are also suitable to use as there are little or no impurities. It does not contain salt, chlorine, and dirt.
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