# Oh!



## agent A (Jul 27, 2009)

Okay I am tired of this! Mr. Nervous just died, but the pattern was so farmiliar. 3 L5 males of mine did this:

1. He becomes L5

2. He becomes listless and stops eating

3. He seems sick, but it doesn't seem too bad

4. He dies soon after, in a position that looks like he's just standing there.

This is the pattern, what's the problem? I hate this. But Mellisa is molting now!


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 27, 2009)

agent A said:


> Okay I am tired of this! Mr. Nervous just died, but the pattern was so farmiliar. 3 L5 males of mine did this:1. He becomes L5
> 
> 2. He becomes listless and stops eating
> 
> ...


Good description Alex, but tell us a couple more things.

What is the species, again?

How long after the molt does this happen? In other words do they ever fully recover from the molt?

Exactly what do you mean by "seems sick, but it doesn't seem too bad" (aparently it is!)? Do they still eat?

Exactly how much humidity are they getting, i.e., size of pot, type of substrate if any, kind of lid and number of squirts from the bottle each time, and how often you mist?

What are you feeding them?

I ask all this because, unlike an isolated death, this does seem to be a pattern. I hope that you are doing something wrong, so that the problem can be corrected. If you aren't doing anything wrong, then it is the will of the Great Mantis Goddess, and you are out of luck.

Finally, how many males and females do you have left (if Melissa is your last, it's a bit late to be solving the problem)?


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## revmdn (Jul 27, 2009)

Could be the roach spray.


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 27, 2009)

revmdn said:


> Could be the roach spray.


It really could!


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## agent A (Jul 27, 2009)

well Mr. Nervous came back to life, the other 2 species were a budwing and european.


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 27, 2009)

agent A said:


> well Mr. Nervous came back to life, the other 2 species were a budwing and european.


Well, good for Mr Nervous! I had the idea that you had had a string of the same species dying after they moulted. Did theses deathgs occur far apatrt, days, weeks months? It some of their siblings survive?


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 27, 2009)

Hows the ventalation?


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## Rick (Jul 27, 2009)

Don't bypass the word filters.


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## agent A (Jul 28, 2009)

hibiscusmile said:


> Hows the ventalation?


uhm, well fresh air gets in when I open the cage, which I do at least once daily.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 28, 2009)

Do u have any vents in there? if not that is the problem, they need to be vented containers. Otherwise the containers will be little hot houses, and moisture cannot escape and mold will develope, it may not be where u can see it, but be there it will, show me picture.


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## agent A (Jul 28, 2009)

hibiscusmile said:


> Do u have any vents in there? if not that is the problem, they need to be vented containers. Otherwise the containers will be little hot houses, and moisture cannot escape and mold will develope, it may not be where u can see it, but be there it will, show me picture.


the picture of some caging is on my website. just go to the "Mantids in Captivity" part.


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## beckyl92 (Jul 28, 2009)

the net cages are fine but seriously, id put some netting over the top of the first cage. this is why they're dying! they can't breathe.


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## agent A (Jul 28, 2009)

but it doesn't affect females!


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## beckyl92 (Jul 28, 2009)

lol.. all mantids need to breathe


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## agent A (Jul 28, 2009)

yes but I open the cages everyday to feed them and stuff.


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## bassist (Jul 28, 2009)

agent A said:


> yes but I open the cages everyday to feed them and stuff.


Not enough.


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## ismart (Jul 28, 2009)

agent A said:


> but it doesn't affect females!


ventalation affects both genders. Your insects need to breathe!


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## beckyl92 (Jul 28, 2009)

i really wanna know where he gets this info from :lol:


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## agent A (Jul 28, 2009)

well I have only a hanful of net cages, so I try to use recycled containers for smaller mantids, maybe some lid ventilation would help.


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## bassist (Jul 28, 2009)

agent A said:


> well I have only a hanful of net cages, so I try to use recycled containers for smaller mantids, maybe some lid ventilation would help.


My suggestion:

http://www.mantisplace.com/insectcups.html#32ozcup

/thread


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## ABbuggin (Jul 28, 2009)

agent A said:


> but it doesn't affect females!


Seriously? Ventilation is _very _important for any invertebrate. As stated before, without it, mold will develop, the air will be stale and less healthy, it will be too humid and depending on the ambient temperature, no vents could make them too warm.


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## agent A (Jul 28, 2009)

ABbuggin said:


> Seriously? Ventilation is _very _important for any invertebrate. As stated before, without it, mold will develop, the air will be stale and less healthy, it will be too humid and depending on the ambient temperature, no vents could make them too warm.


so that's why mold grows a lot in the cages!


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## agent A (Jul 28, 2009)

I will get ventilation


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## ABbuggin (Jul 28, 2009)

agent A said:


> so that's why mold grows a lot in the cages!


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## massaman (Jul 28, 2009)

i may not be in this hobby for as long as alot of people in here but i for one know how to properly give a mantis what it needs even if i have to resort to critter keepers or cut up juice bottles and just top off the bottles with material that allows air to pass through!Its not rocket science and i am sure you can teach a chimpanzee how to do this!


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## AmandaLynn (Jul 28, 2009)

agent A said:


> well I have only a hanful of net cages, so I try to use recycled containers for smaller mantids, maybe some lid ventilation would help.


I think lid ventilation is a good idea. Not only to prevent mold, but with out it your mantises are pretty much in 100% humidity all the time.


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 28, 2009)

Of all the things that we try to control in our mantids' environment, food, temperature, light, humidity and air circulation. The last is easily the most important in my opinion.

Here's a simple test that you can do to demonstrate this, Alex. Let a few (surplus) L2 mantises loose in yr room and try to forget about them; no spritzing, feeding or tucking in at night. I do this regularly, by accident, when nymphs escape from net cages when I'm not looking. I have had a number of 4th/5th instar mantises show up in the bug room, asians, shields, limbata, Chinese, looking as fit and healthy as their siblings raised in pots. They were never fed or spritzed, but they did fine because they had air circulation that was close to ideal. They tend to live in the bug room because that's where most of the escaped flies are and because they like to laugh at their siblings who are locked up in cages. I'm not suggesting that this is the way to raise yr mantids. For one thing, I don't know how many of the escapees die, just as they would in the wild, but I recommend, like everybody else., that you provide as much circulating air for your mantids as possible, and since you have already bought stuff from Hibiscusmile, I would suggest, with Bassist, that you check out her site for some pots and lids.

Good luck!


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