# I screwed up my nymph's foreleg =(



## vafan13 (Oct 17, 2008)

Alright, I was putting the little lady nymph back into her container and somehow she managed to stick her left foreleg out the edge right as I went to close it. End result was it got flattened, ribbon thin, at about the joint. Obviously she can't control it past that joint and my question is: at her young age (1/2" budwing female), will she be able to grow it back properly and if so how many molts do you think it will take?


----------



## The_Asa (Oct 17, 2008)

At that young I wouldn't be surprised if it fixed itself within one molt, at the very most two.


----------



## vafan13 (Oct 17, 2008)

Wonderful. I felt pretty bad, she's just too quick for me when she wants to be. =/


----------



## yen_saw (Oct 18, 2008)

Yeah as ASA mentioned no worry it will grow back, it might take longer time for her to molt but that is normal. Accident like this happen to me too especially when feeding mantis flies and trying to shut the lid as soon as possible to avoid flies escape and end up crushing the mantis leg bummer!


----------



## Frack (Oct 18, 2008)

Hi, I dont know as much about mantis but with tarantulas who lose limbs they can sometimes have difficulty molting with a damaged limb. Alot of times with T's its best to remove the limb completely, but of course Im NOT recomending this with your mantis as I dont know if this would be a good idea. I would probly keep it a little more humid during molting time just to make it easier to get the new leg out. I know flys can be a pain, I know exactly what you mean about rushing to get the lid closed lol. I stick my flys in the freezer for about 30 seconds and that usually keeps them down long enough to stick them in my pets enclosure before they wake up.


----------



## vafan13 (Oct 19, 2008)

Frack said:


> Hi, I dont know as much about mantis but with tarantulas who lose limbs they can sometimes have difficulty molting with a damaged limb. Alot of times with T's its best to remove the limb completely, but of course Im NOT recomending this with your mantis as I dont know if this would be a good idea. I would probly keep it a little more humid during molting time just to make it easier to get the new leg out. I know flys can be a pain, I know exactly what you mean about rushing to get the lid closed lol. I stick my flys in the freezer for about 30 seconds and that usually keeps them down long enough to stick them in my pets enclosure before they wake up.


Moot point now as it came off on it's own sometime last night. Hopefully next molt she'll be good as new.


----------



## vafan13 (Oct 29, 2008)

Well she finally molted but did not make any headway on a new foreleg. Hopefully she gets it back in the next molt.


----------



## kamakiri (Nov 1, 2008)

Did it form a little more of a 'bud' at the end of the joint? That's usually a good sign that more will come in the next molt.


----------



## vafan13 (Nov 4, 2008)

there seems to be a little black nub at the end. Not sure if that's what you mean or not.


----------



## kamakiri (Nov 5, 2008)

23yroldkid said:


> there seems to be a little black nub at the end. Not sure if that's what you mean or not.


That's exactly what I mean. Could you also post a picture?

If I'm reading your post correctly, the damage is at the "elbow" joint. Might be functional in the next molt or two.

Good luck to your girl!


----------



## vafan13 (Nov 10, 2008)

kamakiri said:


> That's exactly what I mean. Could you also post a picture? If I'm reading your post correctly, the damage is at the "elbow" joint. Might be functional in the next molt or two.
> 
> Good luck to your girl!


Here you go







EDIT: She molted again last night between me taking the above picture and this morning and still nothing =(


----------



## kamakiri (Nov 12, 2008)

I'm surprised there is no visible progress... That black scarred end is exactly what I was talking about.

Please keep us updated.


----------



## sk8erkho (Dec 5, 2008)

Poor baby!! The same thing happened to one of my Chinese mantids when I went to put him back into the tank he did not want to go back in and at the very last moment he threw that arm out to keep from going in and when I went to snap the lid on it snapped the arm off. Gosh, I felt so bad about that. it developed a little black bead at the and it began to show progress after the next two molts!! the same thing happened to one of my Orchids but the hind leg and again little black bead and then it grew back in the next molt!!!!

Maybe it will grow back on the next molt. Good luck!!


----------

