MellowMantis
New member
I saw a video online of a kid handling his Tiger Mantis and it was docile, and as intelligent as different species of stomatopods seem to be. I'm trying the experiment myself at the moment,after learning that some stomatopods recognize their owners, i took the opportunity to bond with my 5" peacock after she dropped her raptorial appendages after her first day of being home with me. I have been hand feeding her scallops with no aggression, just curiosity, shes a quite interesting lil' girl. Since then, she has molted once in a 3 month span and has gained 2 little punchers back. Today I feel like I made a breakthrough!!! I had my hand in the tank using a toothbrush, scrubbing the glass and my mantis poked out to see what was up. came right up to the toothbrush, checked it out, checked me out, didn't try to punch at all, and then went back into her hole just to poke right back out. So I took a chance and pet my mantis on the head, she didn't spook, didn't do anything but look at me with interest, eyes constantly pivoting, and taking it all in. Afterwards I held a piece of scallop in the water and she swam right up and took it out of my fingers.I am feeling quite satisfied with my experience. I really want to know how much they really understand, and was hoping if anyone else had a similar experience they could share, can a smashing type mantis be tamed to the point you could put your hand in the tank without fear of attack, to the point they can distinguish food from hand and know not to punch the hand that feeds them?