Mantis didn't molt all the way

[VolkswagenBug]

My H. membranacea recently molted to the sixth instar. He seems to be doing all right, but he didn't lose the portion of his exoskeleton on his abdomen. Will that come off at another point, will he survive until the next molt, or will he die? He didn't fall or anything, it just didn't come off of him. It appears that his two back legs are also still remaining from his 5th instar.
I'll try to get a picture at some point.

 

[arizonablue]

He may survive until the next molt, but with a partial exoskeleton still left around the legs and abdomen it's unlikely he'll make it through the next molt. Worth waiting to see, at least if he's still eating and moving around.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

Okay then. I gave him some honey yesterday, since it seems to basically be a magic antidote for them. He's very active, though.

 

[basin79]

The obvious problem is his old skin will stop have stopped him expanding/growing. I'd be surprised if he didn't at least lose his legs.

Hope he doesn't and it all gets sorted next moult. Poor bugger.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

The obvious problem is his old skin will stop have stopped him expanding/growing. I'd be surprised if he didn't at least lose his legs.

Hope he doesn't and it all gets sorted next moult. Poor bugger.

Yeah. I know jack about mantis anatomy, so I might be wrong, but I had the idea that maybe letting him eat a lot (of course, not letting him get obese) might stress the old skin to the point of breaking off? It doesn't seem to be attached too tightly. When he hangs off of things, he always tends to not even use the back legs, so I don't think it would doom him to lose those, but it would definitely be unfortunate and it would complicate his hunting. I'm not actually completely sure that he still has the old skin on the back legs, because in the light they do basically look like the same size as the middle pair of legs and they are the same color.
I feel bad for him, though. His last two molts have been a bit complicated. The one before this, he wouldn't eat even 5 days after molting, so I had to give him honey (luckily, this fixed the problem). This time, I also gave him honey just in case, but it hasn't seemed to do much except make him full.

 

[basin79]

Yeah. I know jack about mantis anatomy, so I might be wrong, but I had the idea that maybe letting him eat a lot (of course, not letting him get obese) might stress the old skin to the point of breaking off? It doesn't seem to be attached too tightly. When he hangs off of things, he always tends to not even use the back legs, so I don't think it would doom him to lose those, but it would definitely be unfortunate and it would complicate his hunting. I'm not actually completely sure that he still has the old skin on the back legs, because in the light they do basically look like the same size as the middle pair of legs and they are the same color.
I feel bad for him, though. His last two molts have been a bit complicated. The one before this, he wouldn't eat even 5 days after molting, so I had to give him honey (luckily, this fixed the problem). This time, I also gave him honey just in case, but it hasn't seemed to do much except make him full.

I just hope he makes it.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

He molted again last night. He didn't lose the old abdomen skin, unfortunately. It also appears that there is one back leg with skin stuck on it. It seems like he might be trying to molt off the abdomen skin right now, as he's hanging upside down and moving it a lot.

 

[VolkswagenBug]

It looks like he managed to lose the skin on his leg. The bottom of the abdomen isn't really encased in old skin, only the top, so I don't think it's going to make things too difficult for him.

 

[spotropaicsav]

It looks like he managed to lose the skin on his leg. The bottom of the abdomen isn't really encased in old skin, only the top, so I don't think it's going to make things too difficult for him.

Happy ending it sounds like