Could it be my fault if my mantis died?

Crocodylidae

Arachnosquire
Joined
Nov 29, 2019
Messages
112
Hello,

So as I talked about..a lot of times, I've had a couple of Hierodula majuscula since eight months now. One male and one female.


They had their first molt as adults not long ago; the male was the first one to be adult, the female took a bit longer. What I noticed always with the female is that she was very voracious- she could see one worm slightly moving and jump on it after a few seconds, but the male seemed to eat less espescially in the last few days. A few days ago, I looked at him and thought that he looked pretty skinny; in his terrarium, he had a small bowl with worms in it, and I would often put worms right in front of him, but he most of the time didn't eat. I think in the last four days he probably ate like..just one worm?

Yesterday I tried to feed him again but he looked at the worm and then just walked away, I also felt like compared to the rest of the months yesterday he looked a bit more 'weak' (had a bit less grip on my hands) than usual. So, this was the evening, and after trying to feed him and fail at it, I left him in his terrarium. In his terrarium there was one empty pot lying where he could hide, usually he was never going there or very rarely but yesterday he just walked in the hide and this morning I found the male on the back in the hide, dead. I was wondering about it, I know some animals like cats isolate themselves/get in a dark place when they feel like they are going to die, does it do the same to insects?

Does anyone have any ideas if I'm the one who was guilty of his death by not feeding him enough (he was pretty skinny but not extremely skinny), or was it just old age?

I remember trying to feed him a young superworm a few days ago as well, and he just ate a tiny bit of the worm and threw it away. I thought to myself that he probably just did it because either he wasn't hungry or didn't like superworms, but do you think the superworm could have had a disease or whatever and make him die, or it's very unlikely?
(The superworm looked pretty normal, also, when my mantis died, the death looked pretty normal, no signs of disease as far as I know, but, I still would like opinions on it)

Also, would it be safe to put the female in his terrarium now that he died in it, or risky? I don't want to make her sick but I'm not sure if he just died of old age or not.


Other question: I really want to preserve him but I'm not sure how, I don't have much material for it

Thanks if anyone answer!
 
Last edited:

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
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Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
An adult male mantis pretty much just wants to breed. They don't last as long as females after they mature. You got them both to adults from nymphs so your care isn't at fault.
 

Tentacle Toast

Arachnobaron
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Jul 6, 2016
Messages
506
Males die wayyy sooner than the females. Since their lifespans are already woefully short, his death from old age came alarming soon, & odds are nothing about your care had anything to do with it.

Pictures, though, are always welcome..
 

MrGhostMantis

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jun 26, 2019
Messages
1,007
Wait, why would you have a hide for a mantis? They aren't terrestrial, they need places to hang, not hide!
 

Crocodylidae

Arachnosquire
Joined
Nov 29, 2019
Messages
112
I'll try to post a picture tomorrow when I can,
Also about the hide thing, I know they like to hang out on the top of the enclosure but basically this was a terrarium with a lot of sticks/cork bark/ and just this random pot lying around where sometimes if he was on the ground he would walk on it basically, but 98% of the time though he was always at the top. So there always been both places to hang but also just to walk on.


Also, even though males live shorter, does it mean mine lived even shorter than he should have? (I've had them described as l4/l5 when I first got them 8 months ago)
 

Crocodylidae

Arachnosquire
Joined
Nov 29, 2019
Messages
112
PS: it's going to sound pretty gross but I decided that I will not preserve the male because everything is already 'falling apart', I'm not sure how much usually it takes for a insect to rot (I know it sounds disturbing, sorry about that) but it already did so I will bury him instead, and I hope that the fact that it happened so fast is not sign of a disease or anything. I think it's because I left him in a open box in the dark because I didn't had anything else at the time, and my room tend to be a bit humid? Also, I didn't do anything to 'dry' him or whatever with alcohol because I was afraid to do something wrong. But I'll try to learn more about it next time I have a mantis I want to actually keep.

As weird as it's going to sound I will bury him but I still took a part of his wings in memory, I hope it's not disrepectful, maybe I'm dumb but even though he is already dead I felt like taking some of his wings away was a lack of respect for him, I hope it's not really
I still wonder whether or not I should put the female in his terrarium, as it's a big one but I don't want to risk her dying either.


Sorry for my ignorance everytime I ask questions by the way, I'm just afraid to do the wrong things with small animals like that.
Thanks though for the other answers, I hope he lived long enough for a male. I at first wanted them to mate which is the reason why I got a couple but then I realized I didn't had enough space nor did I had enough time to take care of all the babies, so I didn't do it, maybe in a few years with other mantids I'll do it.​
 
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