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Atlas / Library / Mantidae / African Twig Mantis
BeginnerNocturnal · sleeping now
Mantidae

African Twig Mantis

Popa spurcaตั๊กแตนตำข้าว

The page we cite does not state this figure. We opened it on 10 Aug 2026 and it gives no temperature for this species at all. The values above may still be right, but we cannot show you where they came from, and nobody here has checked them against a second source. Anything about a sick animal goes to a qualified exotic vet, not to a page. ourbreathingplanet.com

Photograph: Rudolph Steenkamp · CC BY-SA

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. African Twig Mantis is nocturnal, so what it is doing changes with the light.

Arboreal · temperate · middlingFrom the sheet: 24–29°C, humidity 50–60%

The way of life is written in this sheet, word for word. The climate words summarise the two figures above them, they do not add to them.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/popa-spurca

‹ All husbandry guides
Temperature24–29 °C
Humidity50–60 %
Enclosure20×15×30
Diet2–3 days

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
24–29°Ambient

One ambient band, 24–29°C. This sheet states no warm side, no cool side and no night figure, so none are shown. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet states24-29°C

Humidity

50–60%Target RH

The sheet states50-60%

Identity

Adult size

1.75 m7–8 cm
1520100400 cm
7–8 cmNose to tail, adult

The size the sheet states for a grown animal.

Why

Two drawings, because they answer two questions. The silhouette is at true scale against a 1.75 m person: it says how big this animal actually is, which no number does for someone who has never seen one. The bar under it is logarithmic and shared by every sheet here, so a 2 cm isopod and a 4 m python both stay readable on the same axis and two species can be compared at a glance.

Order / Family
Mantodea
IUCN / CITES
Not evaluated; CITES not yet in our data
Difficulty
Beginner–Intermediate
Commonality
Fairly common
Adult size
F ~7–8 cm; M ~6 cm (very slender)
Lifespan
F ~6–8 mo adult; total ~10–12 mo
Growth rate
Medium
Activity & niche
Nocturnal-leaning · Arboreal twig mimic ambush
Temperament
Calm, slow; twig-mimic
Venom / defense
Harmless; grasp/pinch; deimatic display of orange forelegs

Enclosure and conditions

Enclosure

20 cm30 cm
warm hidewatersubstrate
50100150200 cm
20 × 15 × 30 cmWidth × depth × height
3dm² of floor
Warm side: not in our dataUVB: not in our data

Drawn from the stated numbers. Only what the sheet states is drawn inside.

Why

The rectangle carries the exact width-to-height ratio of the figures above it, and the ruler under it places that width on the 0–250 cm scale every sheet here shares, so two species still compare at a glance. Nothing is added that the sheet does not name: a lamp drawn on a sheet that never mentions one would be invented equipment. What the sheet leaves out is listed rather than left blank, because an empty tank reads as « none needed ».

The sheet states20×15×30 cm (H ≥3× body); mesh top

Temperature
24–29°C
Humidity
50–60%
Min. enclosure
20×15×30 cm (H ≥3× body); mesh top
Substrate
Coco fibre; light mist
Hides / decor / water
Vertical twigs for perching/moulting; mist to drink

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 2–3 dAs the sheet states
14Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesFlies, crickets, roaches, moths · Every 2–3 days

Staple food
Flies, crickets, roaches, moths
Feeding frequency
Every 2–3 days
Supplements
None; gut-load feeders

Behaviour and handling

HandlingDocile and slow; handleable; avoid pre-moult
CommunalNo: cannibalistic
Defense / stress signsSways like a twig; deimatic display if cornered

Reproduction

Life course

Day 0Hatch
0.5–0.7 yrLifespan in care
0.5 yrMinimum commitment
Sexual maturityNot in our data

Read from the lifespan and maturity the sheet states, for animals in care and not in the wild.

Why

The minimum commitment is the low end of that lifespan, and the reproductive window is what is left after maturity: both are subtractions on stated figures, not figures of their own.

Reproduction
Slender ootheca; hatch ~5–7 wk

Common health problems

Common health issues
SignsMismoult (needs height), dehydration
Red flags / quarantine
SignsLethargy, dark abdomen, mould

Good to know

  • So twig-like it sways gently as if in a breeze to complete the illusion

What it needs

Enclosure at least 20 × 15 × 30 cmbecause enclosure20×15×30 cm (H ≥3× body); mesh top
A thermometerbecause temp24-29°C
A hygrometerbecause humidity50–60%

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation.

Sources

Others in this group

What this sheet states

100%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

Every field this product runs on is stated here. That is not a claim that the values are right: it says what the sheet states, not whether it is true. Whether a human has read it is the badge at the top of this page.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.