# Sick Chinese mantids.



## lancaster1313 (Aug 11, 2010)

This morning I found one of my Chinese mantids hanging by one leg from the top of her container. I took her out to see what the problem was, and she was so weak that she could barely hold herself up. She was having alot of strange abdominal pumping movements,( all of mine pump thier abdomens, but these were some strong and abnormal contractions)I gave her some water and she drank it up. I put her in a warmer place by my window so she could get some sun. Shortly after that she excreted some whitish cloudy fluid, and began to regurgitate what looked like the same thing. She actually got a little better and started slowly climbing up the blinds. Now one of my males has started to stink up his container, and I saw him trying to vomit, there were some beige possible vomit streaks on the side of the container. The male doesn't seem weak like the female. I bought crickets from the pet store yesterday, and didn't watch and feed them for a few days before offering them to the mantids. My mantids were hungry, so I didn't follow my cricket quarantine protocol. I have never had a problem with them before, last time I didn't quarantine either. I have a feeling this is all my fault.


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## LauraMG (Aug 11, 2010)

Oh no!




I'm so sorry to hear that! I can't offer any advice, but I hope they get better!


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 11, 2010)

I am so worried that one, or both of them, may die. :sweatdrop: The male is my only subadult Chinese, and I was planning to breed him with my many females. I also love every one of my mantids, I havent had any deaths since L2 when I had cannibalism and mismolts like crazy(that was before I separated them). I thought I was the best mantid mom.


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## massaman (Aug 11, 2010)

it happens to me from time to time with bad crickets or when I started it was either the large bird grasshoppers or the dragonflies I had given to some of my first mantids I was raising as I began the hobby and these were chinese!


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## hibiscusmile (Aug 11, 2010)

You never know what it is, but could be the crickets were sick too, u just never know.


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## Rick (Aug 12, 2010)

Pet store crickets may be to blame. I've had very few issues with crickets bought online, but haven't heard much good about pet store crickets.


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## ismart (Aug 12, 2010)

It's not bad crickets! It has more to do with over feeding. When a mantis is not fed for awhile, and then fed a very large meal. It tends to eat more that it's fill. Soon after it will throw up what it cant keep down. I suggest not feeding it for at least three days. Give it plenty of water, because it will start to become dehydrated if it continues to vomit. I have also noticed increased ventilation helps combat the vomiting as well. If it's in a cage i suggest you take it out, and put it on a house plant, or somewhere the air flow good. Of course i'm just speaking from experience. I used this method to combat this problem. I have had great results. I have not lost a mantis from vomiting sickness in a very long time. Also there are instances where mantises do vomit from sickness. The difference is the smell of the vomit. vomit from over feeding has hardly any smell. Where as vomit from sickness reeks something fierce!


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 12, 2010)

This waste smelled like cricket death, The 2 sick mantids are still alive. the male is doing much better than the female. I also woke up to witness my first Chinese adult!  The bad news is that a mantid that wasn't noticeably sick, was found nearly dead on the bottom of her enclosure. I think that she got a draft, the air was turned down when I got up this morning. :angry: I put her in the freezer.  There was no bad smell around her, she was the only one that was kept in a net enclosure. I am now getting upset, I never had problems before, and now this stuff is happening. I am hoping that I don't lose any more of my pets. Some of the mantids that seem fine, have had the crickets, but I think that I will get rid of these crickets anyway. I will soon be on my hands and knees, digging up Surinam roaches, :sweatdrop: it is a pain in the neck.


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## Ghostie (Aug 12, 2010)

ismart said:


> It's not bad crickets! It has more to do with over feeding. When a mantis is not fed for awhile, and then fed a very large meal. It tends to eat more that it's fill. Soon after it will throw up what it cant keep down. I suggest not feeding it for at least three days. Give it plenty of water, because it will start to become dehydrated if it continues to vomit. I have also noticed increased ventilation helps combat the vomiting as well. If it's in a cage i suggest you take it out, and put it on a house plant, or somewhere the air flow good. Of course i'm just speaking from experience. I used this method to combat this problem. I have had great results. I have not lost a mantis from vomiting sickness in a very long time. Also there are instances where mantises do vomit from sickness. The difference is the smell of the vomit. vomit from over feeding has hardly any smell. Where as vomit from sickness reeks something fierce!


Yes, this. Seems to be related to overfeeding in my short experience.

I overfed mine the other day with a fatty cricket and he barfed up some fluids that stank the first day a lot, the next day less excretion, and the next day one drop. After that he was all better and eating houseflies now.

I took him out to air out a few times as well as iSmart suggested in an earlier post.

He's all better now and has been for a week.

I think the stink is because the cricket was digested into liquids. When I toss my cookies it's not very good smelling either. =P


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 12, 2010)

I just checked again and the male seems to have recovered. The female had a slightly bent abdomen yesterday, but today it has an S curve. There is also a bulge sticking out the side of the abdomen. I think that she may have fallen a coulpe of times before I found her hanging by one leg. She is still producing frass, but she is weaker than she was yesterday. My first thought when I found her was that she was injured, but perhaps both things happened to her.  The poor thing.


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## Rick (Aug 12, 2010)

If you lose them don't get discouraged. I've had a time or two where every mantis I had died.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 12, 2010)

Rick said:


> If you lose them don't get discouraged. I've had a time or two where every mantis I had died.


Thanks for the encouragement, all mantids dying would definitely be a bummer. I'm sorry that anyone would have to go through that. Did you ever find a cause for your mass death?


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## ismart (Aug 12, 2010)

As rick mentioned! Please do not get discouraged Likebugs.  It still happens to the best of us! Sometimes no matter what you do, mis-molts, and sickness will still occur. These are things that are just part of our hobby. You are still the best mantis mom!


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 12, 2010)

ismart said:


> As rick mentioned! Please do not get discouraged Likebugs.  It still happens to the best of us! Sometimes no matter what you do, mis-molts, and sickness will still occur. These are things that are just part of our hobby. You are still the best mantis mom!


Thanks. :blush: Now the male, whom I thought had recovered, started vomiting again. It stinks so bad, but I am afraid to have him out of his container. If he vomits on something, I will be afraid that I might not be able to clean it all up. If another mantid comes into contact with it, perhaps they will fall ill as well? I have cleaned his container twice today, so he won't have to live with the nasty vomit and frass in there. I will be checking every hour or so, lucky for me and the mantids, I don't need to go anywhere for the next couple of days.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 12, 2010)

I just put the sick female in the freezer.  The male didn't get all weak like she did. He seems fine other than the vomiting earlier today. I was pretty upset this morning, my husband actually called and checked on me a couple of times. The husband doesn't really care for my bugs, but I'm glad he is being supportive. I would like to thank the members of this forum for thier encouragement and advice. I wouldn't know what to do if it weren't for all the information that I have gained here.


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## Rick (Aug 13, 2010)

likebugs said:


> Thanks for the encouragement, all mantids dying would definitely be a bummer. I'm sorry that anyone would have to go through that. Did you ever find a cause for your mass death?


No, but it sounded a bit like what you're having. Every now and then you just get a sick one or one that just drops dead for no obvious reason.


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## MantidLord (Aug 13, 2010)

Yeah, or all of your L1 nymphs start to die off for no known reason :angry: Anyway, whatever happens, don't give up the hobby, and good luck.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 18, 2010)

Another female is dying today. No vomiting or odor, she just became weak overnight after some red diarrhea. Now I am really confused because 2 mantids that were afflicted, (a female and a male) are fine now, they never even became weak. All of the sick mantids were, or are subadult.


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## LauraMG (Aug 18, 2010)

That is strange. Were they all siblings or from different ooth?


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 19, 2010)

All afflicted, are subadult siblings from the same ootheca.


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## LauraMG (Aug 19, 2010)

Wonder if maybe it's a genetic disease, a ticking time bomb they all had and there was nothing you could do about it.


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