Spoil kitty, but not with deli meat

In a perfect world, you would just harden your heart as your sister says and leave her unaltered food out, and she would eat it the next day. As they say, hunger is the best sauce. In my world, though, one of the pleasures in life is feeding animals and watching them eat. You obviously feel the same way. So I see nothing wrong with adding in a little meat, as long as the cat is not too heavy.

However, processed deli chicken is really not that good for a cat -- too much salt and preservatives. Use plain chicken or turkey breast instead. Cut it up and mix in the cat food as you are doing now -- just do not let it surpass more than a third of the total volume of the meal. The canned food has needed vitamins and minerals not found in the chicken or turkey breast.

I have kept some of them alive up until the end of December, so it is possible you will have it for a few more weeks yet. The care you are providing is just fine. Be sure to feed it crickets that have been fed a vitamin and mineral powder, as these vitamins will also benefit the mantis.

Most likely it is a female. The females are larger than the males and are the ones we usually notice. She may yet lay an egg case on one of the branches in the vivarium.

If she does, just leave the case inside for a few days until it hardens, then take the branch outside and tie it onto a shrub in a protected area of your yard so the babies will hatch from it next spring.

If you leave it indoors, the babies will hatch in the middle of the winter, and they are so small and delicate that you will not be able to feed them properly and they will all starve to death.