HELP! Mantids could be in trouble...

[scaramanga]

Ive now got two mantids; one dessicata, one indian flower. Two different problems.

Indian flower mantid - i today found it layig on the ground looking very dead. I picked it up and noticed its anntena twitched then it clicked! Is it molting? If so oops. I placed it back very gentally anyway.

dead leaf matid - I dosent seem to hungry and seems to find it hard to catch its prey. one of its arms seems to be limp and it is always to one side. Is there something wrong with its arm thats effecting it catching its prey?

Anyway, there are my problems. I hope someone can help. you usually do

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Sorry for the news: were those mine, they'd both be at the bottom of my orange head roach culture or inside a healthy mantis' stomach.


..."mantid" people may want to explain why mantis is the only common name in any dictionary and why the spelling of the unrelated order named after them is Mantispidae not Mantidpidae...

 

[Sheldy]

Hi there!
Well, um, i dont like to say it but your flower mantis sounds like it's done for! As for the dead leaf, its arm is bent because it has had a mismoult. So quite simply this wont sort itself out until it moults again. Here comes the hard part; she wont live until her final moult at this rate. So to get around this, you have to hand feed her. Because she cant grab properly, you will have to get something that you can rip up and feed to her. When my mantids mismoult, i generally tend to get some maggots (un-dyed - cant do this for whalbergi - blue bottles tend to badly react with them and kill them), cut the top section of it off, then present the "jucy" bit to my mantids mouth, within a few seconds it will take it.
This obviously is quite boring and disgusting, but it may save your mantis. Provided you have a large enough pace, with high enough humidity your mantis may well be ok in its final moult.

good luck!

 

[scaramanga]

Cheers for that sheldy, im not quite sure what mantidassassin is coming from though :-\

Im a bit annoyed at the guy from bugzuk.com for actually sending me a mantis that has had a mismolt. Ill try the hand feeding thing- maybe with mushed up meal worm? they look quite tasty. I could also just much up some crickets.

 

[Sheldy]

Well, all mantid assassin is saying, is that there is not much chance of survival, and you might as well not waste good food! I would assume that within the bottom of the cup there was a skin? Ive orderd from bugzuk many times, and the guy there; Martin is usually pretty good. Dead leaf mantids require high humidity and so therefore will often mismoult if they atempt to moult during transport.
Go back to the bugzuk site and read the "ordering" section and it will give you a list of all the terms and conditions.
#5 is what you may be interested in which states that: "Any stock arriving dead, or dying within 24 hours of delivery will be replaced or payment refunded at our discretion."
Quite simply you could define your dessicata as dying because without you hand feeding it, it would die. So email Martin and explain the situation, he is usually very helpful, but in all fairness you should sort out any problems the day of arrival, that way you are sure to have the full co-oporation of any breeder/seller.
As for your whalbergi, it does sound like its about to bite the bucket, so for next time just remember: whalbergi need ALOT (i cannot emphesise this enough) ventilation. They may react badly with blue bottle flies, and or dyes found in maggots, and therefore the flies that they change into. Whalbergi sometimes get sick from eating brown crickets. Also avoide using fresh store bought plants. If you want to use a plant in your mantis tank, leave it out for a few weeks, as there is most likly going to be some reminece of pesticide on it.

Good Luck!

 

[scaramanga]

thanks. All the above ive done, plenty of ventilation, no real plants, high humity, temps around 23*c.

There was no molt in the cup when i got the dessicata so ill be getting in touch with martin. Ill still try and save the little bugger i already have (if i have the time).

 

[Sheldy]

25c+ for a dessicata and whalbergi i would say... 23 may be too low, and cause problems when moulting? is you whalbergi adult? If not it may have been that it was attempting to moult but it is too cold for it....

 

[scaramanga]

The whalbergi could have been warmer as it is right on top of a heat mat and its tank is small as its 1-2 cm long. Adults are more like 4com right? What is the correct way to measure a mantis and how do i know when its approaching a molt?

Also- GOOD NEWS! I mashed up two meal worms and put some of the mashed up guts on my finger and it ate the whole lot, right off my finger. So cute. Hopefully ill be able to nurture it up to the next molt.

 

[Sheldy]

You can tell when a mantis is nearing its next moult, because they generally stop eating. The final moult is the easiest to expect, as the wing pods grow very fat, noticably starting from about a week before the final moult.
Im glad that your dessicata is taking food, and by the looks of your picture it may well survive as its only deformity is within its arms, but dont get your hopes up too much yet! just remember to keep the humidity at about 80% to make sure that when it does moult, it does moult well.