lifespan of mantis in captivity...........

[Agu]

It was recently mentioned to me that I've had my mantis a "long time" so I'm wondering what kind of life span various species of mantis can attain in captivity.

N wennerae.............just under three years.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Life span of N. wennerae is about six years. Three years in an aquarium given that you probably started with an adult is about right. You might get another year out of it. While species such as Lysiosquillina maculata can live more than 20 years, most gonodactyloids are in the 4-6 year range. Some burrowing spearers live only 2-4 years.

Roy

 

[Thurge]

Dr. roy is there anything we can look for to note that it may be its natural time to go?
Reason I ask this is because, as you know, cephalopods go through sencene where they stop eating and litterally start to break down alive, and I am curious if stomatopods may have something similar.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Not really. The molt interval will increase as the animal gets older, so you will probably note more wear and tear on the cuticle, but that is about it. Some species such as G. ternatensis and O. scyllarus willl also may start to show signs of shell disease. Most deaths occur at the molt and very old animals usual die at that time.

 

[Agu]

Thanks for the info.

The molt interval will increase as the animal gets older,

I've noticed that with my n wennerae. When I first got it the molt was under a week, last time was about 12 days.

 

[Agu]

Well it's been a bit over four years and my n wennerae is still alive but with issues. I rarely see him , he doesn't eat presented foods, and he disappears for days at a time.

On the plus side he hasn't killed a snail in the clean up crew for a month.