# 3 losses in the course of one week, unkown but same cause



## Mantida (Jun 10, 2007)

i lost 3 of my 7 chinese mantids this week. i have no clue what is going on.

all of my mantids are housed in 1 foot x 6 inches x 1 foot containers and i mist and feed them daily...

the death spree began when i could no longer find insects outside because of the sudden cold weather and bought some petco crickets.

i fed most of my mantids who needed the crickets. they were all hunting, healthy, and active.

then one of my female mantids, about 3 or 4 molts away from adulthood, just dropped and died. she had a very unpleasant odor hanging around her body, and her eyes were rotting but she had only died a few hours ago.

today, i found another mantis dead, my male who had one more molt to adulthood, and a female who was still alive but dying. the male's eyes were rotting and there was a very unpleasant odor around him. the female was limp and twitching slightly, but her eyes were cloudy and she smelled VERY bad.

from what i remember, all of them did eat the petco crickets. what could cause this spree of deaths within my mantids from the crickets? maybe bacteria fungal infection within the crickets? i'm not completely sure what caused this, but i've taken note all of the mantids who died had rotting and discolored eyes, smelled bad (like mantis throw up or something rotting), and seemed to have one section of their abdomen "skinnied down" and another section swelled. perhaps an internal implosion? they did not eat that much either so i don't think that could be a possibility.

another one of my females currently is active, but she smells strange... like mantis throw up. she is active and showing no signs of lethargy but i am unsure because of the sudden deaths. for all i know she could drop down dead five minutes from now.

any input of what might have happened will be greatly appreciated.


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## Mantida (Jun 10, 2007)

the female who smelled bad is throwing up right now. i hope she'll be okay later.

the three others, who have not been eating and have been frustrating, i view as extremely wise. they all are fine, which leads me to assume that the death streaks are from the crickets... but are there any other thoughts of why this happened? :/

one thing's for sure. my mantids will never eat petco crickets again. -huff- &gt;_&gt;


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## robo mantis (Jun 10, 2007)

Try moving the live ones to a different room somtime mantids get diseases.


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## Rick (Jun 10, 2007)

Clean and disinfect all your cages then start over.


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## Mantida (Jun 10, 2007)

as soon as i found the two deaths today, i moved my others out into my room. the mantid room smells pretty bad, i guess it's the mix of rank odor and vomit mixed together. i think i'll just throw away the cages, i don't want to take any chances.

this is the first major problem i've encounted with my mantids ... all i can do now is stop feeding crickets to them.


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## robo mantis (Jun 10, 2007)

??? throw away cages? are the like aquariums or what? Wash good with vinegar it works every time.


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## OGIGA (Jun 10, 2007)

Yen had an adult orchid mantis female die because of I think PetCo crickets. Yeah, crickets from PetCo are scaring me.


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## Nick Barta (Jun 11, 2007)

If your airflow is insufficient, any enclosure you mist will have the potential of getting molds and bacteria. Perhaps reduced misting would help, but don't beat yourself up over it, mantids die on every keeper. Crickets are the last food source I use on mantids and reptiles, due to their smell, attacking capabilities, chewing, and lack of nutritional value. Houseflies are a MUCH better source of food when fed properly. See "Feeder Insect Care" www.mantisplace.com, subtitle Houseflies/Blue Bottle Flies.

Cheers!!!

Nick Barta


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## Peekaboo (Jun 12, 2007)

Petco has served up some bad crickets frequently in the past. When you do buy from them, keep the crickets for 24 hours. If a lot of them die off within 24 hours you know you have a bad batch.

From the smell you're describing, it appears to me that they ate some bad food.


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## Asa (Jun 12, 2007)

Never, ever, ever, get crickets from Pet.co or Petsmart.


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis (Jun 14, 2007)

You played diseased poker with Petco, went all out and lost horribly...  (?) Nasty, disinfect your enclosures.


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## Asa (Jun 17, 2007)

> You played diseased poker with Petco, went all out and lost horribly...  (?) Nasty, disinfect your enclosures.


I say shove em'. No risk that way.


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