# Strange disease



## gisti87 (May 1, 2011)

Dear fellow mantis keepers!

My Hierodula Grandis got a disease that he could not survive. I am curious what could that be and what caused it, I would appreciate every comment. So here are the symptoms:

- about 3 months ago he lost his sight, some kind of sandy stuff slowly collected in the bottom of his eyes, so they turned dark brown and he did not respond on any movement around him.

- about 2 weeks ago he started holding his abdomen in a strange way so that the bottom of it was always straight

- some days ago his "doo-doo" was fluidy and very dark (maybe black)

- this evening he fell down from the branch and could not get back to his feet again so I made an end of his suffering. I also noticed that the lower part of his abdomen was going to turn darker than before.

I bought him from a pet store several months ago, he was pretty big that time too. He only molted once since then but still had no wings. I kept him on an orchidea in my room, where the temperature is not too high (18 C (64 F) in winter and 21 C (70 F) in spring) and the humidity is quite high (60-70%). I appreciate every advice that will help me to prevent my mantids to get this kind of illnesses.


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## davestreasurechest (May 1, 2011)

Unfortunatley this happends to many of us , from my knowledge there are 2 deadly infections that mantids can get,

1.is the Black Death- which is caused by an infected wound/scratch/contact with poop/ or mismolt. most of the time it spreads like cancer.

I was lucky enough one of my orchid females had a black spot on her arm,which she lost in the next molt,i spayed her with colodial silver,

2.Is what i call the cricket flu or mad cricket disease,which the infection builds internally,causes diareah and bloating and eventually death.

alot of keepers will be leary of feeding crickets b/c the can easily contract/carry this disease more than likely from bad diet and cleanliness.


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## QiGongGuy (May 2, 2011)

buginthebox said:


> "i spayed her with colodial silver"
> 
> :huh: Um... did you mean to say spray? or did you spay her? not sure what the silver does.  Could you please explain?


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## Rick (May 2, 2011)

Nobody can determine exactly what happened. I've seen what you describe before. It is most likely related to poor living conditions or diet.


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## Raiyan (May 3, 2011)

mine has kind of the same symptoms....whats the cure???...can anyone say what does the silver do..??


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## PhilinYuma (May 3, 2011)

insectlover said:


> mine has kind of the same symptoms....whats the cure???...can anyone say what does the silver do..??


Colloidal silver is a very old bactericide and has been revived somewhat in recent years to treat antibiotic resistant bacteria in open wounds and particularly on urinary catheters where the mucus membrane of the urinary meatus is easily infected as the catheter moves, bringing the exposed, infected surface in contact with it. For several decades the suspension has also been taken orally as a form of "alternative medicine". Such use is not sanctioned by the FDA.

Using it on a mantis where there is no open lesion and when it is not even know to have a bacterial infection -- insects are more prone to viral infections -- is about as useful as you may expect.


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## gisti87 (May 7, 2011)

Thank you all for the replies, I hope none of my other mantids will have this sickness.


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## lion (May 7, 2011)

Are you shure it's not a female that died of old age?


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## gisti87 (May 8, 2011)

lion said:


> Are you shure it's not a female that died of old age?


Hi, I am sure he was male, and he had no wings yet (he had to molt once more) so it was not because of age.


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