# chinese on final molt... crooked legs though!



## MustangV8 (Sep 19, 2008)

hey guys... i've been a ghost of these forums for a little bit now. couple months ago went to a garden center and bought 2 chinese mantis ooths. 1 for gf and 1 for myself.

this was both of our first experiences in trying to raise a mantis, although she has other bugs, scorpions etc.

all of but one of my mantis died. and the one that survived molted improperly with his wings. they were sticking up in awkward positions. anyways i put a cricket in the cage with him, and the mantis grabbed the cricket and ended up getting the tip of his foreclaw bitten off. the next day i caught my mantis chewing through his own arm!! 2 days later he died.

my girlfriends mantis were still on the 2-3rd molts, i suppose i fed mine quite a bit more.

anyways she gave me one that had a bend in the top of its abdomen (sharp 90 degree bend when upside down) he ended up molting and fixing this on his own.

on the molt that he fixed his bend, i found him on the floor of my cage (which i should have padded, but didn't think to) which meant he fell. he was alive and was free of the exoskeleton minus his left 2 legs not the front. i ended up freeing his legs but i probably mangled them badly in doing so.

hes been alive and eating well, chasing whatever i give him crippled as he is... his front leg i'm sure will be fixed in his LAST molt which he will be having soon as his wing buds were the size of my previous mantis' before he was an adult. his back leg has several 90 degree bends in them and its completely nonfunctional, but he can still move it.

anyways, my gut says his back leg is too crooked to fix itself, but he might be fine minus that one leg. hes been at this stage molt for a few weeks now, and i can tell hes about to molt again. i completely padded the floor of his container with toilet paper, along with the sides and the top of the container. he couldn't grip to the sides of the container as they are smooth plastic.

i'm pretty sure he can't support himself with his praying arms folded like they are supposed to be while molting with only his back 2 legs. so is it possible for him to molt off the side of the cage? should i just make the ceiling of the cage inaccessible to him so he doesnt have the opportunity to fall?

I would really enjoy to see this mantis to adult-hood. hes quite pretty

having very light blue-green//turquoise eyes. very light pale brown body overall with thin red stripes going all over his legs and connectant to the abdomen. along with nice yellow patches on his breasts.

anyways... i diverge.. any thoughts on keeping him alive?? basically hes fully functional minus his left side legs


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## The_Asa (Sep 20, 2008)

I had a mantis pretty recently with its two back legs completely crooked and distorted. One (successful) molt later, and now they are perfectly functional. There are people on this board :lol: who have had their mantids in much more dire situations, and they made it through all right. So I think that you're mantis has a pretty good chance of surviving...

Keep the ceiling available. If the mantis sees that the sides or floor of the enclosure are more suitable-most likely not-then it will use them.

One of the key things to a successful molt, is proper humidity. Without high enough humidity the mantis will get stuck in its old skin and most likely fall. You create higher humidity by misting the enclosure with a spray bottle. However, with toilet paper, you cannot retain humidity as it will get soggy. Try using paper towels to surround the enclosure instead.

Good Luck!


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## collinchang635 (Sep 20, 2008)

Sorry, but the mantid might not correct itself since its already a sub-adult. My Tropidomantid which was sub-adult broke her leg. When she molted into adult, she had not corrected her leg. Using the side of the container to molt is fine. My ant mantid got stuck on piece of tape one day and after I 'unstuck' her, she couldn't climb smooth surfaces. I put paper towels all along the wall so that she could run around on the walls of her cage. Since she couldn't get to the lid of her cage, she molted on the wall. Twice without any complication.


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## MustangV8 (Sep 20, 2008)

thanks for the replies... I hadn't really kept the enclosure well misted and it was pretty dry. I'm going to make sure I give my mantis the best possible chance it can have at this point and keep his environment well humidified!


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## kamakiri (Sep 21, 2008)

I have a european female that made her last 3 molts to adulthood with only one walking leg. Only major problem is that her wings are a tangled mess...otherwise she is as healthy as her sister.


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## collinchang635 (Sep 21, 2008)

MustangV8 said:


> thanks for the replies... I hadn't really kept the enclosure well misted and it was pretty dry. I'm going to make sure I give my mantis the best possible chance it can have at this point and keep his environment well humidified!


If you keep it well humidified, besure to have good ventilation too otherwise there is a good chance of mold growing.


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## MustangV8 (Sep 22, 2008)

well... mantis is moving EXTREMELY slow.. acting as if he is about to die... so hes for sure going to molt!!

i took advantage of his slow state by taping his 2 gimp legs to the ceiling of a paper towel attached to the enclosure... will post on how he does! should molt tonight and hopefully he wont chew through his legs!


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## MustangV8 (Sep 23, 2008)

got to watch him molt. unfortunately i allowed him to be upside down too long. I thought he was drying with the abdomen tip and feet tip in the old skin, but the feet ended up being crooked. the leg that was severely bent either ripped off on the way out when he fell, or didn't fully regrow in the old shell.. after his two legs came out messed up his wings didn't properly fold probably due to the fact that his back legs were all over the place.

such a shame. he is still alive but completely gimpy.


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## collinchang635 (Sep 23, 2008)

MustangV8 said:


> got to watch him molt. unfortunately i allowed him to be upside down too long. I thought he was drying with the abdomen tip and feet tip in the old skin, but the feet ended up being crooked. the leg that was severely bent either ripped off on the way out when he fell, or didn't fully regrow in the old shell.. after his two legs came out messed up his wings didn't properly fold probably due to the fact that his back legs were all over the place. such a shame. he is still alive but completely gimpy.


He fell?! I heard that most mantids don't survive from that. Hope he lives....


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