# Bloated abdomen



## AmandaLynn (Jun 21, 2009)

One of my T. Sinensis nymphs is not doing so well. She is at her 7th instar and her abdomen was bent after she moulted last. I noticed some vomit on the inside of her jar a couple of days ago so I held off on feeding her more crickets and just fed her honey and water until last night when I gave her a small moth which she ate right away. I thought that was a good sign and she might be ok but, when I checked on her this morning I found that her abdomen is no longer bent and hanging, but straight and really swollen.  Is there anything I can do to help her?


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## AmandaLynn (Jun 21, 2009)

Another thing I forgot to mention was her eyes. They're darker than usual. Even when she's in very bright light her eyes don't seem to adjust. :mellow:


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 21, 2009)

Probably not. Chinese often produce nymphs with a kink in their abdomen after a molt. It sounds as though thiis was really constricting her gut enough for the food to be blocked, which is why she was hurling, but now it has passed through the constriction and all that food has distended her abdomen. If she survives, her abdomen will probably bend back up again. Try not feeding her for a few days and see what happens. And good luck!


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## AmandaLynn (Jun 21, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> Probably not. Chinese often produce nymphs with a kink in their abdomen after a molt. It sounds as though thiis was really constricting her gut enough for the food to be blocked, which is why she was hurling, but now it has passed through the constriction and all that food has distended her abdomen. If she survives, her abdomen will probably bend back up again. Try not feeding her for a few days and see what happens. And good luck!


Thanks! Hopefully that's all it is. I just noticed somthing else when I was trying to take a picture of her. She expelled some clear fluid from the end of her abdomen.(it squirted out of her butt) :huh: I've seen once before a drop of moisture on the end of the abdomen, just moments before it molted but I've never seen _that_ before.


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## Rick (Jun 21, 2009)

Last time I had the bloated abdomen the mantis died. The bent abdomen never killed any of mine. The bloat is air. The squirt is pretty common.


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## AmandaLynn (Jun 21, 2009)

Rick said:


> Last time I had the bloated abdomen the mantis died. The bent abdomen never killed any of mine. The bloat is air. The squirt is pretty common.


Air, eh? This is kinda a wierd observation but it is pooping umm I'm not sure how to explain, but it's like air bubbles. It's the same size and shape as it normally is, but clear and hollow. :huh: Parasites mabey?


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## Rick (Jun 21, 2009)

AmandaLynn said:


> Air, eh? This is kinda a wierd observation but it is pooping umm I'm not sure how to explain, but it's like air bubbles. It's the same size and shape as it normally is, but clear and hollow. :huh: Parasites mabey?


Not parasites. The one I had that got all bloated was VERY bloated. But her abdomen was full of air . It blew up overnight and she died shortly after. She was a year old though.


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## AmandaLynn (Jun 21, 2009)

This one blew up overnight too. But I think she's getting better!  I put her on a hanging plant outside and took a couple pictures about twenty minutes ago, I just checked on her and her abdomen looks fine now!  Not bloated _at all!_ So mabey she just had an upset tummy.


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## PhilinYuma (Jun 21, 2009)

AmandaLynn said:


> This one blew up overnight too. But I think she's getting better!  I put her on a hanging plant outside and took a couple pictures about twenty minutes ago, I just checked on her and her abdomen looks fine now!  Not bloated _at all!_ So mabey she just had an upset tummy.


She'll do fine!  The reason that she vomitted was from overloading of the crop (foreggut) which was trying to push the food down into the midgut but was spilling out as vomit because that was the only way it could go. When the stricture opened, the food shot into the mid and hind gut under pressure and some of the liquid was forced out of the anus before it could be absorbed by the feces. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!


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## AmandaLynn (Jun 21, 2009)

She seems totally fine now! That was so weird. I don't know how common this is, but it had me pretty worried. I hope she dosn't puff up again! Well here's a couple pics if anyone would like to _see_ what I was talking about.  

Here she is bloated







After she deflated


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## Rick (Jun 22, 2009)

Good to know. I think mine did it due to old age. I'm sure there is a good reason for it.


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## agent A (Jun 22, 2009)

Remember, it's a female, and isn't the 7th instar an adult?


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## Rick (Jun 22, 2009)

agent A said:


> Remember, it's a female, and isn't the 7th instar an adult?


Does that look adult to you? Not me. Looks like subadult.


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## agent A (Jun 22, 2009)

I know, but I thought L6 was subadult.


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## Rick (Jun 22, 2009)

agent A said:


> I know, but I thought L6 was subadult.


I don't get wrapped around the numbers. It's adult when it's adult.


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## AmandaLynn (Jul 27, 2009)

I just thought I'd update this thread. Well she managed to molt for the final time and became an adult, but all was not well. After she molted there was a pretty big black spot on her abdomen. In the top picture, where she's bloated you can sort of see it. (It's pretty blurry, but it's there, right under her hind leg.) It was really tiny then. She lived for about a week as adult, eating and acting normal for the first few days then she stopped eating and died.  

I think it was a problem caused by the bent abdomen. The black spot appeared right along the crease where her abdomen was folded. I've also noticed another adult female that had a bent abdomen as sub-adult, with a tiny black spot in the same place, but her's didn't appear until she was adult.

Black spot, after she molted to adult.






Her eyes were all weird and blotchy to.


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## Rick (Jul 27, 2009)

Well she made it through a molt but then died. Interesting.


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## Katnapper (Jul 27, 2009)

I'm sorry she didn't make it.  But thanks for updating and letting us know. Good observations and photos of the black spot and cloudy eyes. I think documenting symptoms, subsequent progress, and the outcome of situations like this is a great tool that may help identify causes, or at least help predict a likely prognosis, in similar instances in the future.


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## kamakiri (Sep 2, 2009)

I've seen the injury around the bent area post molt, but have not had any known fatalities due to that condition. It's usually just cosmetic and a little tearing of the exoskeleton.

I am surprised that she got over the bloating, but at least it's an example of surviving the condition!

I think the eye blotch is damage or an infection, which likely has nothing to do with the abdominal problems...but that's just a guess.


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