# Droopy Abdomen?



## Roaming (Jul 2, 2018)

Hi all, a few days ago( four?) I noticed my adult female ghosts abdomen was all crooked and droopy.  It was large and has got bigger even though I haven't fed her in a few days, and is just hanging to the side.  I haven't fed her since I noticed because I was worried maybe she ate to much and it was to heavy or maybe bursting?  Her antenna are twitching normally and she is moving around a little, but ghosts usually don't move much anyway.  I've never seen this behavior and wasn't able to find anything online similar.  If anyone has any idea what is going on here that would be great!  I attached some pictures hoping someone has seen this 

Thanks, 

Roaming


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## Predatorhousepet (Jul 2, 2018)

How long has she been an adult and has she laid any ooths yet?

My females tend to fatten up a bit right before they lay but I've never seen one hold her abdomen to the side like that. Is she is doing this all the time or just occasionally?

If you haven't fed her in several days it won't hurt to try feeding her again. I don't know if that'll have any affect on her condition but it will let you know if she still has an appetite or not.


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## Roaming (Jul 2, 2018)

shes been adult for about a month or so now, and she has never laid an ooth.  The abdomen has been crooked like this all the time for the last four or so days.


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## Predatorhousepet (Jul 2, 2018)

She is due to lay an ooth any time now. If she has not been mated it takes a little longer to lay unfertile ooths. However, once they start ghosts are prolific ooth layers, whether they are fertilized or not. You can usually expect one laid every 2 weeks..  

It is too soon to tell but there is the possibility she is eggbound and I'm only guessing here but it could be a reason she would hold her abdomen like that. All you can do is wait &amp; see.

Ghosts aren't really prone to overeat, especially not to the point of harming themselves. How much did she eat when you last fed her?


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## Roaming (Jul 3, 2018)

is being eggbound life-threatening?  Last time she ate she had a whole large cricket as per the usual.


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## Predatorhousepet (Jul 3, 2018)

One large cricket is not excessive for an adult ghost. Unless the cricket was sick it probably isn't the cause of what's going on. 

Being eggbound can be fatal but not always, some females can live out the rest of their natural lives fine, it just depends. I have read that getting them to drink extra water can help lubricate things and encourage laying. Offer her some drops of water and see if she will drink. Ghosts aren't really big drinkers to begin with, they seem to get the majority of fluids from prey so don't panic if she's not interested.

She may not be eggbound, just hesitant to lay. Sometimes the reason a female won't lay is because she is not completely comfortable in her environment, possibly because there isn't enough privacy, space, humidity or suitable laying spots. I see you have her in what looks like a mason jar with a couple sticks. This is probably not ideal. My 2 ghost females refused to lay when I had them in a similar setup in a plastic jar but they began laying almost immediately after putting them in a 12x12x12" terrarium with real plants and lots of thinner sticks. Maybe consider finding her a larger enclosure with lots of area at the top where she can hang from the ceiling/lid. They almost always choose one of the highest places in the enclosure to lay, often on the ceiling itself. Ghosts in particular prefer to lay on sticks about 1/4" in diameter. My pair of females lay the majority of their ooths on the 1/4" wooden dowel rods I used to secure fiberglass window screen to the lid of their terrarium, the dowels are on the ceiling &amp; run parallel to the ground. Also including real or fake plants for added privacy may help as well as blocking off 3 sides of her enclosure with posterboard or something to block the view. Another thing is humidity, you can increase misting to as much as twice a day if necessary.


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## Ocelotbren (Jul 19, 2018)

How did things end up going? Did she lay an ooth? I just wanted to mention that I had a female ghost that had a similar droopy abdomen at a similar weird angle. She was also not mated. She lived on for months, for a normal lifespan, despite the strange angle, and also laid many infertile ooths. She also ended up with some type of injury where some yellow pus oozed out of the side of her abdomen. I don't know what happened, but it gave me the impression that she had grown too large and burst, or was very large and poked it against something sharp. It happened twice, a couple months apart, but seemed to have no impact on her to be honest.

It was all very weird, but she lived a normal adult life anyway! Hope yours is doing well.


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## Roaming (Jul 19, 2018)

It doesn’t seem to be affecting her and she’s been happy and healthy so far. She just layed her first Ooth about three days ago I think? She’s eating and behaving normally other than the weird angle on the abdomen. The ooth should be infertile since she’s never been with a male.  I wonder what I should do with it? Can I just take it out and scrap it off? Will that make her upset? Or should I just replace it with a new stick? It’s good to hear that someone else experienced this phenomena and the mantis lived out a normal adult life.


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## Ocelotbren (Jul 19, 2018)

Glad to hear that! With my ghosts, I just left the infertile ooths in there until the next time I cleaned out or redid the enclosure, or just left them until the ghost died. I scraped/pried them off the branches they were laid on using a knife. I don't think there's any harm whether you choose to remove them or let them stay.


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## Darth Mantis (Jul 19, 2018)

Sometimes with some species of insects an unfertilized female will lay eggs and general the eggs wont hatch due to being not fertilized but sometimes one or two eggs can hatch by basically being a clone of the mother through parthenogenesis. I dont know if mantises or ghosts in particular can do this(but ive heard a few times that some mantises can) but maybe they can so if you wanted to keep them and see if any hatch you could but I wouldn't expect any. From what Ive heard only a few species have been "confirmed" as being able to do this but since the ooths dont take up much space you could hang on to them and see.


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