# Creobroter died oddly. Help!



## xxtittlexx (Aug 15, 2009)

I recieved a Creobroter Pictipennis through the mail two days ago and was eating alot and completely healthy and active. Then today i get home from work only to find him on the bottom of the cage dead as a doornail and i dont know why. Yesterday i notiiced some redish brownish goo on the top neting of the cage but was informed by the dealer it was just poo. Also i noticed that the cage had smelled kinda odd for a Mantis cage and it actually smelled like a cricket cage but there were no crickets. It seems the humidity was rather high in the cage as the water was still there in the evening from that morning. Could it have been mold? though it seems sudden and fast acting for mold and were no visible signs of any. Please help i dont want this to happen again.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 15, 2009)

That was probably it, to much moisture or another thing is it could of got trapped in the water and drowned. That happens a lot to small nymphs. The container needs to be vented good so air can circulate inside and the water should be gone within an hour or so, so dont spray to much. For a small nymph, I usually give it a misting of one maybe two squirts.


----------



## superfreak (Aug 15, 2009)

the red goo was likely vomit. what did you feed it? heightened humidity for a day would not kill it. was the temp too high/low? did you leave it in the sun? how big was this guy? could he have drowned, as bec suggested?


----------



## xxtittlexx (Aug 15, 2009)

superfreak said:


> the red goo was likely vomit. what did you feed it? heightened humidity for a day would not kill it. was the temp too high/low? did you leave it in the sun? how big was this guy? could he have drowned, as bec suggested?


I was feeding it D. Hydei's which it was taking happily. The temp was room temperature but i am in houston so it was probobly about 75-78 in my room. Nope it was not in the sun. He was a little fellow about a cm maybe 1 1/4 cm. It is possible he could have drowned seeing that the humidity was high and the water was in the cage for a while.


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 15, 2009)

Dealer - 0 Superfreak - 1

The red goo was almost certainly vomit, and since that doesn't commonly occur, so far as I know, with nymphs taking hydei, then your nymph was probably quite sick on the day before it died. The spray water stayed on the side of the enclosure for far too long. I have been keeping some nymphs at about 80%RH (aren't you proud of me, Paul?  ) and spray water evaporates in a short while, even at that level. I also wonder about the nasty smell in yr enclosure. I would guess that you had stagnant water and inadequate ventillation and that the nymph simply suffocated (if it had drowned, it would have been in water, wouldn't it?).

I suggest that you thoroughly clean out your enclosure, find a way to increase ventillation and reduce humidity (misting much less often might help), and let us know about your second, successful attempt.

BTW, your dealer doesn't seem to be very well informed about mantids. Fortunately, you live in the same town as The Greatest Mantis Breeder in the U.S. (probably, World) so you might want to contact him before buying another nymph.


----------



## xxtittlexx (Aug 15, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> Dealer - 0 Superfreak - 1The red goo was almost certainly vomit, and since that doesn't commonly occur, so far as I know, with nymphs taking hydei, then your nymph was probably quite sick on the day before it died. The spray water stayed on the side of the enclosure for far too long. I have been keeping some nymphs at about 80%RH (aren't you proud of me, Paul?  ) and spray water evaporates in a short while, even at that level. I also wonder about the nasty smell in yr enclosure. I would guess that you had stagnant water and inadequate ventillation and that the nymph simply suffocated (if it had drowned, it would have been in water, wouldn't it?).
> 
> I suggest that you thoroughly clean out your enclosure, find a way to increase ventillation and reduce humidity (misting much less often might help), and let us know about your second, successful attempt.
> 
> BTW, your dealer doesn't seem to be very well informed about mantids. Fortunately, you live in the same town as The Greatest Mantis Breeder in the U.S. (probably, World) so you might want to contact him before buying another nymph.


Alright thank you very much ill find a way to increase ventilation though i had quite a bit i thougt for the size of the enclosure ( about 9 3/4 cm holes in the top of a beanie baby display case). Im still new to this but i feel bad for leading a mantis to their death.  At least the others are still doing quite great!


----------



## massaman (Aug 16, 2009)

the container could be a problem too maybe what you need is like some critter keepers or like large plastic yarn containers with a single hole in the top and those work as well or even use some fruit juice bottles as make shift enclosures or even a cardboard box with screen glued to the front side could work!


----------



## Katnapper (Aug 16, 2009)

ScytherIsAMantis said:


> Alright thank you very much ill find a way to increase ventilation though i had quite a bit i thougt for the size of the enclosure ( about 9 3/4 cm holes in the top of a beanie baby display case). Im still new to this but i feel bad for leading a mantis to their death.  At least the others are still doing quite great!


Please try not to feel bad about your mantis dying. It does suck, I know. But as keepers of a genus that has not been widely studied in depth, there just aren't very many commonly defined illnesses or conditions, or guaranteed and commonly accepted ways of solving or treating causes or problems. And even with trying your best, some mantids just won't make it.

There are just so many things we may not know about them, and so many reasons he could have died. We all have been there, so try not to be so hard on yourself. You are gaining experience that hopefully will make you a better keeper for all the future mantids you raise and keep.


----------



## PhilinYuma (Aug 16, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Please try not to feel bad about your mantis dying. It does suck, I know. But as keepers of a genus that has not been widely studied in depth, there just aren't very many commonly defined illnesses or conditions, or guaranteed and commonly accepted ways of solving or treating causes or problems. And even with trying your best, some mantids just won't make it. There are just so many things we may not know about them, and so many reasons he could have died. We all have been there, so try not to be so hard on yourself. You are gaining experience that hopefully will make you a better keeper for all the future mantids you raise and keep.


+1


----------



## xxtittlexx (Aug 16, 2009)

Katnapper said:


> Please try not to feel bad about your mantis dying. It does suck, I know. But as keepers of a genus that has not been widely studied in depth, there just aren't very many commonly defined illnesses or conditions, or guaranteed and commonly accepted ways of solving or treating causes or problems. And even with trying your best, some mantids just won't make it. There are just so many things we may not know about them, and so many reasons he could have died. We all have been there, so try not to be so hard on yourself. You are gaining experience that hopefully will make you a better keeper for all the future mantids you raise and keep.


Alright thanks Katnapper.


----------



## Katnapper (Aug 16, 2009)

You're welcome.... hang in there.


----------

