Hes able to hunt, but he is a lot smaller than his brother!

0.0.3 D.Dessicata
3.3 Phylocrania Paradoxa
0.1 Pseudocreobroter Wahlbergii +1 ooth
1.1 Rhombodera Stallii +ooths
2.2 Gongylus Gongylodes +1 ooth
0.0.1 B.Mendica Mendica
1.2 Idolomantis Diabolica

http://s597.photobucket.com/albums/tt60/kernowaj/

I hand fed a P. chlorophaea nymph through 2 sheds after a bad molt disfigured her (hunchback) and she couldn't use her raptorial forearms. I used a straight pin to feed her fruit flies... for the longest time. It seemed like forever, lol. After fruit flies, I went to house flies and/or very small or pieces of crickets. She got better with each molt, and eventually molted to adult appearing and able to catch food completely normally (all that was "wrong" was a slight ruffling of her wings)!

One of my friends used a twist tie with the paper stripped off one end successfully with a smaller nymph. Neither is as big and bulky as most tweezers. I think the trick is being as unobtrusive as possible with the feeding implement and your big, scary hand.

I currently have an H. coronatus 3rd instar nymph that has messed up raptorial arms from a bad molt. She drinks well so what I have done is soak one end of a Q-tip in ant jelly, squish a fruit fly or two on the end in the ant jelly and prod her over to it. She slurps up the ant jelly like a little piggy and will occasionally munch on one of the flies.
So far so good, but we'll see if she makes it.

Wayne

im finding it impossible to hand feed my L2 violin :/
its ate 1 fly in 5 days. im really starting to get worried. everytime i try and feed him he runs away like his scared or something.

Collection:
Mantids; 0.1.0 Parasphendale agrionina, 0.1.0 Hymenopus coronatus, 0.1.0 Phyllocrania paradoxa, 1.0.0 Deroplatys dessicata Scorpions; 0.0.2 Heterometrus spinifer, 0.1.0 Liocheles australiasiae Tarantulas; 0.0.1 Grammostola rosea Geckos 1.0.0 Leopard Gecko Katydids 0.0.6 Stilpnochlora couloniana

My best pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckyl92/

Are you taking him out of his tank to feed him? gongys like to feed from an upside down position maybe you would have more luck this way. Try getting him to hang from a branch so he has less chance of running away and as plant mentioned before a big pair of tweezers are going to scare the bejesus out of a small nymph the smaller the feeding implement the better, good luck with him.

okay. thanks alot for the info
ill try feeding him upside down with a fly attached to a pin.
hope it works!

Collection:
Mantids; 0.1.0 Parasphendale agrionina, 0.1.0 Hymenopus coronatus, 0.1.0 Phyllocrania paradoxa, 1.0.0 Deroplatys dessicata Scorpions; 0.0.2 Heterometrus spinifer, 0.1.0 Liocheles australiasiae Tarantulas; 0.0.1 Grammostola rosea Geckos 1.0.0 Leopard Gecko Katydids 0.0.6 Stilpnochlora couloniana

My best pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beckyl92/

Hi all - I'm new to the forum. Just wanted to say thank you for this advice - just spent the last 45 minutes trying to hand-feed a little Ghost mantis called Layla who belongs to a friend of mine and lost a segment of it's raptorial arm during a bad shed (insufficient humidity) and, bless her, she finally tucked into a fly! She's very young (perhaps 4th/5th instar) so hopefully, with a little bit of hand-feeding and confidence back in her hunting, she'll bounce back thanks again for giving me the faith to persevere