# Why is my Idolo puking?



## MantidBro (Apr 23, 2014)

Okay so my new Idolo puked tonight after I gave him/her water. Do any experienced Idolo owners know why? I only fed him/her two blue bottle flies in three days. I have offered a fly every day but he/she didn't take it today. I have not fed him/her anything else. I thought flies were supposed to be fine? I was thinking maybe it wasn't related to the food, but the temperature? I haven't provided humidity but have given the mantis water from my finger which I dripped on his/her head. He/she wiped it off with his/her raptor then drank it off his/her claw. I have been doing that a couple times a day. He/she gets a heat lamp of about 70-75 degrees and the lights go off at night time. The mantis is in a container with coconut fiber along the bottom (lid is netting).

Today is the first time I saw him/her actually puke. I had seen spots of puke in the container I received him/her in but hadn't thought it was him/her because she/he ate blue bottles and didn't puke afterward. I received 2 Idolos in the same container and one was dead, the head was eaten off. Perhaps that was the one that had been puking and when the surviver ate that one, it became infected as well, and it took a few days to build up in his/her system?

Why exactly do you think he/she is puking? I don't understand and am quite bothered about it. I'm worried it may be detrimental.


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## gripen (Apr 23, 2014)

You are over feeding. 2 maybe 3 BBs a week is fine. One every day will result in puking.


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## jetsky82 (Apr 23, 2014)

I've had a number of mantises puke. It usually means they are sick, and they then turn black and die.


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## MantidBro (Apr 23, 2014)

gripen said:


> You are over feeding. 2 maybe 3 BBs a week is fine. One every day will result in puking.


wow only 2-3 a week okay, thanks


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## MantidBro (Apr 23, 2014)

jetsky82 said:


> I've had a number of mantises puke. It usually means they are sick, and they then turn black and die.


ive dealt with that too but only when id been feeding them crickets, turns out i must be over feeding


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## Lou (Apr 23, 2014)

Dude that stinks,hopefully it's just an overfeeding thing and it will be fine.The good thing is you can probably rule out crickets.


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## Aryia (Apr 24, 2014)

What color is the puke?

Sometimes when you handfeed them water, the mantis actually drinks the water without wanting to (especially if it's trying to clean itself). They will puke the water that they didn't want to drink back up, and it's usually either clear or very light brown liquid.

Sometimes mantises will puke prior to an incoming molt. Generally as long as the puke doesn't smell very bad it should be fine.

Not sure what instar your mantis is to be feeding one BBF everyday. For my younger nymphs from L4-presub I usually feed 1-2 BBF every 3 days (of course, depending on species). For most of my presub/subadults I feed them daily or every two days (amount of flies here really depends on the species and gender). For example my empusas I only fed one per day, but the orchid females take up to 5-9 flies every day already at presub. I've been feeding them constantly at that rate and they are molting and acting just fine. I regularly "overfeed" mantises in order to time breeding pairs and have yet to link any severe issues to it, I tend to believe that mantises will stop eating when they're full. I find that things like keeping the enclosure too wet/too dry cause more problems.

Wish you luck with your Idolo : )


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## MantidBro (Apr 24, 2014)

Lou said:


> Dude that stinks,hopefully it's just an overfeeding thing and it will be fine.The good thing is you can probably rule out crickets.


i hope he/she will be okay i guess we will find out, thanks


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## MantidBro (Apr 24, 2014)

Aryia said:


> What color is the puke?
> 
> Sometimes when you handfeed them water, the mantis actually drinks the water without wanting to (especially if it's trying to clean itself). They will puke the water that they didn't want to drink back up, and it's usually either clear or very light brown liquid.
> 
> ...


the puke is quite dark brown unfortuntaley. Though it didnt smell too horrible.Oh really? maybe i should just do a misting rather than a drop on the head, so theres not as much water to consume, if hes not thirsty? he only ever really drank once when i first received him the other times he shook it off or consumed it while cleaning.

i didnt keep the container too wet for sure but maybe too dry? ill start misting even though he doesnt appear to be ready to molt quite yet.

thank you


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## sally (Apr 24, 2014)

Make sure you keep it away from the others and really clean the enclosure.


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## MantidBro (Apr 24, 2014)

sally said:


> Make sure you keep it away from the others and really clean the enclosure.


the little ones all alone, my only idolo, has his/her own jar

and its clean indeed, coconut fiber along the bottom as substrate, i only got him this week so i havent changed it yet of course but i will eventually

i will keep it clean though as time passes, thanks


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## PookaDotted (Apr 24, 2014)

I hope it pulls through for you.


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## MantidBro (Apr 24, 2014)

PookaDotted said:


> I hope it pulls through for you.


thanks pooka, the little one seems to be doing well at the moment, enjoying the sun, swaying back and forth and is quite active, you wouldnt even think he/she had puked last night, my experience with puking mantids has never been a good one, they usually ended up dying, became slow and weak, at least Lucky isnt acting that way, so hopefully he/she will indeed pull through. maybe he/she really was just over stuffed and the water sent him/her over the edge


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## PookaDotted (Apr 24, 2014)

I hope that that was only the case. I'm starting to think since it's feeling better, Lucky is an appropriate name for this little one haha.


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## MantidBro (Apr 24, 2014)

PookaDotted said:


> I hope that that was only the case. I'm starting to think since it's feeling better, Lucky is an appropriate name for this little one haha.


haha


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## Falconerguy (Apr 24, 2014)

I think the issue is TOO much babying. He sounds like he is fine, but is somthered. Too much food is the big one, and the large droplets on the head is the other. Try misting instead, so he can drink the little droplets.


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## MantidBro (Apr 24, 2014)

Falconerguy said:


> I think the issue is TOO much babying. He sounds like he is fine, but is somthered. Too much food is the big one, and the large droplets on the head is the other. Try misting instead, so he can drink the little droplets.


i just read something under the topic "idolomantis consolidated" where one of the main breeders said he feeds his L2s 1-2 Blue bottles a day so Im beginning to think that over feeding may not be the problem. maybe its because im giving too much water though, with the drip on the head. since last night i have misted instead. maybe because this species is so used to hot climates they dont really need as much water as my others.


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## Falconerguy (Apr 24, 2014)

It is possible. What instar was this guy's nymph?


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## MantidBro (Apr 24, 2014)

Falconerguy said:


> It is possible. What instar was this guy's nymph?


his was the same instar as mine, L2, but he had nymphs from an ootheca, he actually breeds the species and raises them to adulthood successfully. i was sent 2 nymphs in the same container and their were spots of puke in the one Lucky was in, either it was Lucky puking or the other one. and the other ones head was eaten off, im wondering if Lucky caught that sickness after eating that ones head. either way someone was puking in there. i think because all the fruit flies had died in there, as the shipping took 7 days, thats a build up of bad bacteria. and if some fruit flies were living after others died, and theyd crawled on the dead ones, that means they had the bad bacteria on them, and if one of the idolos caught a living fly that had been on a dead fly, that bacteria would be transferred to them. i feel like people dont consider this a likely situation but how can it not be, is what i wonder. idolos are not supposed to be kept contained with dead prey, or living prey that had been climbing on dead prey. idolos are sensitive to bad bacteria, that is a known fact. im having trouble thinking of what else it could possibly have been, considering ive been going by the care sheet.


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## MantidBro (Apr 25, 2014)

an update, my idolo hasnt puked since. i didnt feed him/her for a few days. just offered a bit of maggot guts just now and he/she ate it. probably equivalent to 2 fruit flies. and then he/she was done, didnt want anymore after that. i then misted, he/she cleaned the water off. no puking. maybe i was really just over doing it! even if one breeder feeds his L2s 1-2 BBs a day, maybe thats just not right for mine? maybe mine is ready to molt.


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## sally (Apr 26, 2014)

I am glad it's doing better


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## Aryia (Apr 26, 2014)

One of my ghost nymphs was puking pretty bad at L3/L4. 4-5 spots of black puke but he pulled through just fine, he's a proud subadult waiting for his wings now : ) . Still have no idea what went wrong and it went away without me doing anything special about it. I guess it's possible for mantises to catch the "flu" or a stomach bug?

I'm glad to hear he's doing better, and I hope that he continues to do well!


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## MantidBro (Apr 26, 2014)

sally said:


> I am glad it's doing better


me too!


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## MantidBro (Apr 26, 2014)

Aryia said:


> One of my ghost nymphs was puking pretty bad at L3/L4. 4-5 spots of black puke but he pulled through just fine, he's a proud subadult waiting for his wings now : ) . Still have no idea what went wrong and it went away without me doing anything special about it. I guess it's possible for mantises to catch the "flu" or a stomach bug?
> 
> I'm glad to hear he's doing better, and I hope that he continues to do well!


yeah, that happened to a male ghost of yours? it happened to a male ghost of mine as well, but he ended up dying. :-( thats great that yours pulled theough though! whats his name?


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## PlayingMantis (Apr 26, 2014)

Glad to hear Lucky is doing better!  Best of luck, I will be rooting for him/her!

My shield started vomiting for no apparent reason, other than an impending molt. After the molt, she is perfectly fine. I think she probably gorged herself a bit too much in the days leading up to the molt.


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## MantidBro (Apr 26, 2014)

PlayingMantis said:


> Glad to hear Lucky is doing better!  Best of luck, I will be rooting for him/her!
> 
> My shield started vomiting for no apparent reason, other than an impending molt. After the molt, she is perfectly fine. I think she probably gorged herself a bit too much in the days leading up to the molt.


thanks! his/her abdomen has been pulsing, i think a molt is indeed coming along

thats so weird i never knew mantids did that, some one else said the same thing, that they sometimes puke before a molt


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## MantidBro (Apr 26, 2014)

Sad and disappointing news, Lucky has died, I dont understand why, and why so suddenly when yesterday he/she seemed better. I just checked on him and he looked significantly thinner, I figure he must have been puking while I was gone. I lifted the net and tried to get him to crawl into my hand but he made no reaction, then fell from the net and his legs curled up. I think he was just hanging on because his feet were stuck. Im so disappointed. i just dont understand. i was going by the care sheet, what could it possibly have been? I need to ask some professionals.


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## PookaDotted (Apr 26, 2014)

I'm so sorry Lucky didn't make it. It's possible that it was sick before you got him, or possible that although he seemed like he was getting better he actually wasn't ? My condolences. It's really hard to pinpoint what went wrong in these situations with so many variables.


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## PlayingMantis (Apr 26, 2014)

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear about Lucky.


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## Lou (Apr 26, 2014)

Dude,that really sucks,sorry for your loss!


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## MantidBro (Apr 30, 2014)

thanks guys. im sorry too, i had bought 5, 4 died in shipping and the one that got to me died of sickness within 3 days, what an unfortunate situation, i paid $50 for nothing basically. im bummed out.


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