# Black on eye?



## cdcrocks (Jul 11, 2014)

When I was feeding today, I noticed this odd black thing on the eye of one of my L3 Carolina nymphs. It's still eating very well, a fly just landed on it's bum and it plucked it up and is munching away. Is there anything I can do to make the spot go away, or does anyone have any theories to what it is? I'll add pictures as soon as I'm done feeding.

Pictures added.


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## cdcrocks (Jul 11, 2014)

&lt;p&gt;It's also shying away from stuff on that side, I think that eye doesn't work very well.&lt;/p&gt;


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## LAME (Jul 11, 2014)

Possible dead eye? =/

thats what I'm thinking, but I don't really know.

that's weird though...


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## Domanating (Jul 11, 2014)

I can see what looks like a crack or tear along the eye. It appears it suffered a pretty nasty blow. I'm not entirely sure if it's completely blind from that eye, though.

Maybe it will heal wih the next molt. Just hope it's not some kind of infection or it could kill your nymph pretty quick.


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## cdcrocks (Jul 12, 2014)

Oh my, is there anything I can do to keep it from getting infected if it's not already? Would putting a tiny bit of honey or aloe on it help?


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## Domanating (Jul 12, 2014)

I doubt it will have any effect. Your nymph won't like that very much either.

It will be easy to see if it's an ongoing infection if you notice the the dark area spreading.


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## Sticky (Jul 12, 2014)

Try putting honey on it. I had a bigger mantis that lost most of her vision in both eyes with similar damage. There's a good chance your little one will molt ok like mine did and have discolored scar tissue in that eye. My mantis had pinkish scar tissue. She could see alittle from the bottom of her right eye.


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## cdcrocks (Jul 14, 2014)

Alas, the nymph mismolted horribly last night and had to be put down. Now we'll never know if it could have healed. Poor baby.


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## [email protected] (Jul 18, 2014)

Did you feed fruit flies to her?

My male just molted fine but has the same black stuff on his eye, and unfortunately in his eye now. I noticed that if it is too damp the fruit-flies leave this black stuff on the bottom of the cage which looks like the same exact black stuff in his eye.

I'm so sorry for your loss. This is too heart-breaking for me.


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## cdcrocks (Jul 19, 2014)

I've had a couple more develop it. I think it was because I wasn't cleaning the cups for a couple of weeks due to being on vacation. The beachouse didn't even have paper towels. Now they're being kept clean, and nobody has it who didn't before.


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## Aryia (Jul 22, 2014)

Mantises can regenerate parts of their eye as long as some it is still remaining. Might want to quarantine the individuals with black eyes just in case it is something fungal or bacterial.

Sorry about the loss.


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## cdcrocks (Jul 22, 2014)

They're each in separate cups, but I'll move the ones with funky eyes to another part of the room.


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## Aryia (Jul 22, 2014)

It really sucks, I wish we knew more about diseases (especially transmittable ones) when it comes to mantises. There are days when multiple nymphs drop and you can't help but wonder if there's a flu going around.


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## [email protected] (Jul 23, 2014)

I have the same problem with one of my mantids. I put aloe on his eye and put him outside in the 110 degree weather for a couple nights. I am scared to hurt him so I only used a tiny, tiny amount. It seemed to dry up, but he is barely eating!

Are yours eating?

Can we use hydrogen peroxide?


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## cdcrocks (Jul 23, 2014)

I haven't seen mine eat since their eyes darkened, I'm going to start hand feeding them, and if that doesn't work, force feeding them. I'm afraid they're blind and can't see the food. Or they might not be hungry, but it's been several days.

It was at first only the carolinas, but now I have a chinese with two dark eyes. They're all quarantined in a separate room now. I hope it's not a spreading disease.

I'm keeping them in otherwise normal conditions. I haven't put anything on their eyes, and i don't feel safe trying it myself, but it's your choice, mcervig. If you do it, let us know if the mantis recovers.


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## cdcrocks (Jul 23, 2014)

When I went to feed these poor nymphs, I noticed greenish coloring on one of the eyes of a L4 chinese. I think it might just have extra green eyes, but I'm not sure. They're not totally blind, it can see me. It was hard, but I managed to force it to eat some cricket guts.

Edit- He keeps tryinv to clean the dark eye. He doesn't have much of an issue with me poking the green one, but he reacts instantly if I do the same to the dark one. I think it hurts...


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## [email protected] (Aug 11, 2014)

The aloe and/ or heat worked on my guy with the black eye! I have iris oratorias; they like dry heat. I don't know if it was the heat or the aloe or both that helped. But the small amount of aloe I used did not hurt him for now. Now he is eating and looks like he will molt soon. I'm still not sure if he will make the molt. I wish I had a good camera. His eye is completely dried up, but it looks indented. I will let you know how he makes the molt.


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## [email protected] (Aug 17, 2014)

He made the molt! He is an adult now. Unfortunately he lost half his eye tissue on the bad eye and there is still a little black in it. His other eye looks worse! It is cloudy with a little black on the inside. He is eating fruit flies now, but he can't catch them too well. His wings also are a little disfigured. Poor guy! He'll be ok as long as I keep him dry, I think. I think any humidity could make his eyes worse.

How are your little guys doing? Are they eating? Has molting helped any of them?


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## Domanating (Aug 18, 2014)

Curiously I recently found a wild European subadult female with a black patch on its left eye. It looked very similar to your case. When she molted to adult, the black patch is nearly gone. on its place just semi-transparent brown smudge.


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## Crazy4mantis (Aug 18, 2014)

I sometimes get black eyes right before they die of old age. other than that the most i've gotten is a brown smudge. I found a wild female with a completely exploded eye and black "tar" all over the head.


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## [email protected] (Sep 9, 2014)

An Update:

My guy has been living with a black eye an a half. He was doing better before the molt. Now he is not eating. I force feed him. Itt seems that once a mantid has somekind of injury, it never completely heals. That is my experience anyway.


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## cdcrocks (Sep 11, 2014)

My T. sinesis with black spots on their eyes lose it when they molt a few times, if they survive. They're weaker than their normal siblings.
My S. carolinas often would molt badly because of it, but one of them is now a healthy adult.


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## mantisboxer (Sep 12, 2014)

a lot of my t sinensis have had this problem and are perfectly fine it usually happens when they have damaged their eye like one of my females has one each eye and she is very healthy or it could be the lighting


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