How long does it take for a praying mantis to molt ?

Question

plz help asap he ate 5 flies yestarday and drank some water when will he molt how long will it take how lo0ng should he not be messed with thx

Answer 1

It depends on how big he/she is. If it's a sub-adult you can tell a molt is upcoming by looking a the wing buds. (They thicken as the molt nears) I doubt that it will shed in the next 4-5 days though, usually they go off feed before molting.

Make sure there is something wide and rough (piece of cork bark) in the cage vertically for them to hang off of when shedding. Keep humidity at 50% minimum, and fine mist cage daily with distilled or springwater. The time to actually molt can be rather quick, it's the hardening of the exoskeleton that takes some time.

Good luck.