URGENT: Bad Mismolt

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Ocelotbren

Ocelotbren

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Jan 6, 2017
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I just came home to find my female Chinese mantis started molting to adult while I was out.  She is very much stuck.  It must have been for a while because her wings have already unfolded.  She had slightly askew forearms from falling during her last mismolt, as well as two bent back legs.

Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/FNdMK

I think I already know the answer, but is there any coming back from this?  None of her arms even made it out.  Is it recommended to freeze her, or leave her for a while first and hope for a miracle, or attempt surgery...?  I feel like she's been stuck for too long at this point, based on the wings anyway.  But I am new to this and advice is appreciated.

Thank you.

 
Personally I would freeze her. :(  I'm sorry. If she'd managed to get out of the molt it might be worth it to see how she did, but with everything stuck I don't think there's anything you can do for her other than put her to sleep. 

 
You could attempt to carefully cut her free and see where that leaves you but its not looking good. Poor girl. The freezer might be the most humane but its understandable if you want to give it one last desperate attempt and try to help free her as she's most of the way out.

 
I would attempt to cut her free first, then assess the situation after. She may not be able to hunt anymore, so you'd have to hand feed her for the rest of her life. If the wings are in the way you can cut those too.

 
Thank you all.  I decided to at least attempt cutting her free since I figured at this point I'd might as well.  As I expected, she is in very rough shape.  See this picture after cutting her free:

http://imgur.com/a/WL4TL

Some of her back legs are still stuck halfway in the exuvia and all her legs are unfortunately bent.  She was moving a little while we worked and her forearms are in decent shape although I doubt they are straight and they're probably not usable either.

I intend to freeze her unless someone says she has a chance at a decent life.  I don't think she will be able to walk, let alone hunt...do you?

 
Ocelotbren said:
I just came home to find my female Chinese mantis started molting to adult while I was out.  She is very much stuck.  It must have been for a while because her wings have already unfolded.  She had slightly askew forearms from falling during her last mismolt, as well as two bent back legs.

Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/FNdMK

I think I already know the answer, but is there any coming back from this?  None of her arms even made it out.  Is it recommended to freeze her, or leave her for a while first and hope for a miracle, or attempt surgery...?  I feel like she's been stuck for too long at this point, based on the wings anyway.  But I am new to this and advice is appreciated.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
I thought I was the champion of mismoults , with 2 bad ones in a row.  Leaper the last was incapacitated for 9 days before I froze her. She finally could not right herself when on her back. Euthanizing them early is best , instead of watching them suffer knowing in the wild they would be food for another ..  .. S

 
@Serle She has made no real effort to try and right herself.  After we stopped cutting her free, she didn't move at all and still hasn't.  I guess I will freeze her.

Thanks for the opinions everyone.  I just didn't want to rush into it in the heat of the moment, especially given my inexperience.  This has been a stressful experience!

 
@Serle Thank you.  :)   I have an extremely busy weekend ahead of me, that started this afternoon, so it's keeping my mind off it.

 
Oh yeah, that looks pretty bad. It's always tough to make that call, but this mantis looks pretty mangled. So sorry. At least you gave it a chance. ??

 

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