# Reasons for Bad Molts



## hibiscusmile (Oct 10, 2007)

QUOTE(hibiscusmile @ Oct 8 2007, 01:12 PM) 

Sure let her do what she naturally does. Even in the wild the wind may of pulled her free, in fact if you think about it (glad you asked that question, got me old mind to thinkin), the wind may be a big factor of why we have bad molts. No WIND! I must go experiment. Check out the Bugatorium later today to see my new fan!!!  Sorry, I had to edit, I got so excited all I could think of was wrapping this up to go check out a fan. So as I was saying, in the wild there is usually wind, the wind may blow them giving gravity a chance to make them pull out of the molt better. If you think about it the babies are blown about by the wind upon hatching, and they float to different places in the bushes and weeds and so on. This is also how more are ment to survive by our Good Maker. If they all stayed in one place they would soon be eaten by the birds, ants, spiders and each other. Yes the Wind makes sense. While you are blowing around you would be heavier to. It's much easier to pick up a 20 lb bag of dog food compared to a 20 lb bag of feeder corn, due to the shifting of the corn!

THIS WAS A REPLY UNDER "HEALTH ISSUES" for "Darn bad molt"I just wanted to see what some of your opinions are on this.


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## Krissim Klaw (Oct 10, 2007)

I don't know, I think wind could be a mixed blessing. Yes it could help move the mantis out of its skin, but the mantis might also be more prone to falling during the shedding process do to the wind making it sqirm all willy nilly. If you experiement with it, make sure to tell us all the results though.  

So far I have been very lucky with sheddings. Never had a mantis have any problems as far as getting stuck, loosing limbs, or coming out deformed.


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## asdsdf (Oct 10, 2007)

Krissim Klaw said:


> I don't know, I think wind could be a mixed blessing. Yes it could help move the mantis out of its skin, but the mantis might also be more prone to falling during the shedding process do to the wind making it sqirm all willy nilly. If you experiement with it, make sure to tell us all the results though.  So far I have been very lucky with sheddings. Never had a mantis have any problems as far as getting stuck, loosing limbs, or coming out deformed.


Yes, I have to agree. The wind could be a curse if it blows the mantis, and it falls off. If you notice some of them molting, there are times where they are fully out of the skins, and are moving their legs to gain a holding. That could be a bad time, since the old skin, if you notice, can easily come off it's perch. Also, I can't really see the wind as helping. If you notice, they twist and pull their body out of the skin, and then hang their only with something attached to their abdomens. From the squirming, you can assume it's pretty hard to get out, and the wind can't really blow hard enough as to pull one free without making one fall. The wind could help, I guess, by drying the mantis quickly so it's less vunerable??????

It makes sense that the wind could blow to move the nymphs however.

I haven't had a mismolt yet, except for one that was my fault, and fungal infection. (Had three PO molt to adult today perfectly. Almost no humidity because of the mold, if you know.) Unfortunately, I think mismolts could be genetics???? The skin is too tight or something??????


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## OGIGA (Oct 11, 2007)

That's a great observation and I'd love to see what your conclusion is.

Another reason why wind may hinder a molt is it can dry out the molting mantis before it's done.


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 11, 2007)

Very interesting points, but remember the Great Maker made them to be outside in the enviroment, not in our little houses we make them live in, and with that said, as *asdsdf said," it would help in drying them out". *I have to agree with that, about the old skin falling off perch, that could be because outside where they would perch there could be better holdings due to natural roughness, sticky saps and films on the plants and such. One thing about being outside in the WIND, they would hardly ever have to be near the ground for a bad molt, because they have plenty of room! We'll wait and see what else forum members come up with that may shed more light on this windy matter.


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## joossa (Oct 11, 2007)

As far as chemical/biological make up: Ecdysis in arthropods is all basically the same. All arthropods have exoskeletons made up of Chitin (a type of carbohydrate). After the outermost layer (the cuticle) is shed, the new cuticle must undergo dehydration from the inside in order to dry.

Keeping this in mind, “all arthropods” include crabs, lobsters, crayfish, ect. as well as insects. So I would say that air, let alone wind doesn’t play a part in the hardening of the cuticle as we don’t see wind blowing down to the bottom of the ocean to dry newly molted lobsters.

For the physical factor: I would say that wind is only damaging because it poses a risk of blowing the insect off or making it loose its footing. Mismolts are most likely due to malnutrition in the wild and bad conditions for the individual in captivity (humidity, temps., ect.).


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 11, 2007)

Thanks, well that blows my theory out of the water so to speak! I suppose you couldn't wait to say all that! :lol:  Still I hope to see some more theories to this Wind thing.!!!


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## OGIGA (Oct 12, 2007)

I just want to see the experiment. :mellow:


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## chun (Oct 14, 2007)

in my opinion, the effect of wind on ecdysis is minimal to non existence in the wild as mantids tend to inhabit areas with thick foliages, shielding the mantid from the wind.


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## yen_saw (Oct 16, 2007)

Sorry for replying late Rebecca i know you want me to put my 2 cents here. Based on my experience, proper nultrition thus healthy mantis will be more successful moulting in variety of humidity level compare to a weak mantis moulting even at the "correct" humidity level. Also, footing type (rough surface vs smooth surface, bark vs plastic) and height are the basic neccesities for moulting.


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