IMPORTANT. We will be closed for our annual summer break between 30th August and 14th September! Any outstanding orders will be processed as normal and delivered by Tuesday 2nd September
Ships within 3 days! Order before 2pm, Monday-Friday. (Excludes pre-order items. Excludes Bank Holiday)
7 Day Live Guarantee for your pet covering 7 days after shipping for peace of mind.
Price Matched Products. Shop equipment without breaking the bank.
Deaths & injuries covered for this pet up to 7 days after arrival*
Original price was: £15.45.£12.99Current price is: £12.99.
African Twig mantis, Popa spurca is a stunning stick-mantis from Africa. This mantis covers a range including Central, South, and West Africa, as well as Madagascar. Its a great choice as an alternative to the cat eye mantis or if you don’t have the space for a cat eye mantis. It is similar in behaviour and a stunning twig mimic.
In stock
The African twig mantis is species of stunning stick-mantis from Africa. This mantis covers a range including Central, South, and West Africa, as well as Madagascar. There are also records of it in East Africa, from Ethiopia to Tanzania, and more recently in Gabon.
The African twig mantis prefers small, flying prey such as wax moths & green/blue bottle flies. Nymphs should be fed D.hydeii fruit flies until they need something larger, in which case aerial prey around 1/3rd the size of the mantis should be readily accepted. Mantids should be fed until the abdomen becomes plump.
Like all mantis they require an enclosure around 3x as tall as their total body length to ensure they can safely molt out of their exoskeleton. A substrate such as moist coco coir or tissue can help to raise & maintain humidity levels if needed.
Popa spurca are a difficult species to sex when young though as the develop females have 3 thorn-like protrusions on the back, more pronounced than the male. The males are also smaller and less bulky. As adults males have wings to the end of their abdomen and females have shorter wings.
Our Next-Day Guaranteed service promises same-day packing and delivery before 1 pm the following day for all orders placed. For standard livestock delivery, we dispatch orders within 1-5 working days, and once dispatched, your order will arrive in less than 24 hours.
We pride ourselves on our attention to detail- it’s a priority that your critters are safe & snugly packed.
When you receive your order, open it up and locate the transport container your pet is inside. Gently ease out your pet into the home you’ve prepared for it.
Ordering pets online can be nerve-wracking, we get it. Our 7-Day live guarantee is our way to ease nerves over the purchasing process.
We’re confident in the quality husbandry, shipping, and packaging of our livestock. On the rare occasion an animal arrives in poor condition, we will provide credit for the cost of that animal. If all animals in the shipment arrive in poor condition, we will also provide credit for the postage.
We try to make it as easy as possible to help any unwell critters, and ensure you can get your money back. There are a couple of steps to go through before a refund can be issued.
If you’ve received an unwell animal in the mail:
1. If it is safe to do so, (your pet is not medically significant or harmful) please remove the animal from its transport container, ideally onto your hand. We ask this as invertebrates, particularly insects, are experts at ‘playing dead’.
2. To provide you with the best advice going forward and to confirm the condition of your pet, we kindly request a short video of the animal in question before your refund can be processed. This can be uploaded on our ‘live guarantee refunds form’, or you can email it straight to us.
3. We typically respond within 24 hours, but please allow 1-3 working days for a response. Once it’s confirmed that you are eligible for a refund, we’ll get process the credit to your account.
We’ll need this information to reach us within 7 days after you’ve received your pet. We cannot provide any live guarantee to animals that have been refused, returned, or not collected.
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All live pets purchased from us are guaranteed to be of great health. Any issues in 7 days? Let us know.
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