# weird bubble



## sk8erkho (Aug 20, 2007)

Mt H. Grandis complete his/her third instar Saturday morning. To my surprise my little 8 yr. old runs in and grabs me going on about a bubble or bubbles on the tips of it's wings. When I arrived there were indeed two droplets of what appeared to be water on the tips of each wing. Little light blue droplets, which when I carefully removed a very tiny sample was a sticky little bubble. It looked as if while it was in the drying stage it somehow formed like little run off bubble. But, I could not understand where it came from because i had not misted it's tank since the night before assuming it would molt during the night I did not want to take any chances with humidity and all. The tank was really lightly misted at that so by Sat. morning perhaps the only moisture would have been the moss as the walls of the tank were dry already. At any rate, I just let it alone assuming it would dry off and all would be swell. Later, nephew returns shouting the mantis has two black big bubbles now....I arrived again and sure enough they were about maybe 1/8th of an inch in diameter and had hardened into a little plastic like bubble on each wing tip and has turned black now. I then performed a thorough inspection of the little guy/lady to see if there were any other such spots and lucky for it there were none. To date there still are no other spots but the bubbles are still there and the ends of the wings are now a tiny bit raveled. :? What?????

Does anyone have any ideas on this little weirdness? It does not seem to be bothering it though I guess it will should it try to fly.


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## OGIGA (Aug 20, 2007)

I had a mantis that had bubbles on its wing(s) right after a molt. That stuff appears to me mantis blood. I'm not sure how it got there, but it could have been due to underdevelopment before the final molt. My mantis turned out fine though.


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## sk8erkho (Aug 21, 2007)

Wow!! Yeah, weird though, but he seems fine so I'll just keep an eye on him. Isn't it kind of sad how these little guys can be in perfect condition before a molt but the slightest degree of difference in conditions necessary or just dumb luck can leave a mantis severely crippled or even dead??? Kinda of like "here today gone tomorrow!" Just kind of sad.  The second on molted early this morning 1:39 am and I'm looking at him now and though I don't see any imperfections he seems extremely weak. This is the weakest I've ever seen one after a molt. Is this normal?? Maybe I'll give it some water until I feed him tomorrow. I know as a rule you should not feed them until the next day but if it will accept food will it hurt him in some way? Is the rule exact like that for good reason?? :?


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## sk8erkho (Aug 21, 2007)

And one more thing...It amazes me how much body mass they squeeze under that exo before they are ready to molt. My little guys were all of maybe 1 1/2" before the molt and today they're all 2 1/8'' long now!!! Nature...got all bases covered!! :wink: Amaaaazing! 8) 8) 8)


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