# Spazzing



## Zlyph (Oct 14, 2008)

I caught a small mantis the other night, and threw a few little critters in his temporary housing to much on. Ive noticed whenever he goes to strike at one of the buggers he will hit it, usually capture it for a moment then his body will shudder violently and he will lose his prey. During this process he will typically end up dismembering the bug piece by piece. While this sounds cool I am pretty concerned about his ability to eat anything other than bug legs and antenna.

My guess is he has been hit with a pesticide but if anyone else has any other thoughts on the topic please let me know, he is currently unable or unwilling to eat the cricket in the new housing with him. (he will strike it, but the cricket always gets away)


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## yeatzee (Oct 14, 2008)

just a speculation, but if it was pesticides why would he only "spazz" when attacking food?

Is the little guy doing alright otherwise?


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## Zlyph (Oct 14, 2008)

yeatzee said:


> just a speculation, but if it was pesticides why would he only "spazz" when attacking food? Is the little guy doing alright otherwise?


He is able to walk around and climb just fine, I see no other abnormalities other than when he strikes an insect (ive tried feeding him a few different types, but always the same result)

As far as the pesticide theory goes I talked to a bug exterminator awhile back and he told me that the chems they often use will make the bugs unable to use their limbs by messing with the signal the brain gives to the muscles (yeah i know its a bug, thats just how he explained the concept to me)


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## Birdfly (Oct 14, 2008)

Is the mantids abdomen quite full, distended ? they quite often still capture a prey animal if full. Its like they are following through on all the stimuli with hunting behaviour, some times just chewing a few apendages off, Sampling it or they some times just throw it away immediately. This is often the case with a large or boisterous prey insect  if they are full.


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## Zlyph (Oct 14, 2008)

Birdfly said:


> Is the mantids abdomen quite full, distended ? they quite often still capture a prey animal if full. Its like they are following through on all the stimuli with hunting behaviour, some times just chewing a few apendages off, Sampling it or they some times just throw it away immediately. This is often the case with a large or boisterous prey insect  if they are full.


Being relativly new to keeping mantid all i have to compare his abdomen to are my other 2 from different species. To me the new guy im having issues with seems a bit on the lean side.

Thats an interesting tidbit though, ill keep an eye on him over the next few days and see if anything changes (he currently has a crickt in his container about half his size).

Any guess on the spazzing out action hes doing though? Its a very high speed violent thrashing that lasts a good 1/3-1/2 a second AFTER he grabs the food.


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## Birdfly (Oct 14, 2008)

Probably got a good look at it close up and was shuddering at the thought of eating it  More than likely just part of the discarding Manoeuvre


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## Zlyph (Oct 14, 2008)

Birdfly said:


> Probably got a good look at it close up and was shuddering at the thought of eating it  More than likely just part of the discarding Manoeuvre


Think you got the nail on the head with this one. I grabbed the cricket with tweezers (no easy task) and tried to feed him by hand. He struck at it a few times and backed away. I will try and feed him somthing a bit smaller in a day or 2.


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## Morpheus uk (Oct 15, 2008)

?Could the food be too big?


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## Zlyph (Oct 15, 2008)

Morpheus uk said:


> ?Could the food be too big?


Should know by tonight, going to try and make it to petsmart and pick up some small crickets as a tester until i can obtain a better foodsource. Being too big would definitly explain the dismembering =)


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## sidewinder (Oct 15, 2008)

Just out of curiosity, how big is the mantid? Any idea what species it might be?

S-


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## Zlyph (Oct 16, 2008)

sidewinder said:


> Just out of curiosity, how big is the mantid? Any idea what species it might be?S-


Unsure of species, size is aprox 1.5 inches.

Threw in 4 crickets of different sizes last night, ranging from too tiny to medium sized. As soon as I threw them in he went on the hunt, very active stalker. However with every attempt he made to capture one of these crickets he would hit them and they would bound away.

So far I have made attempts with 6 different crickets, all varying sizes, 100% failure rate to capture. I have even tried holding a couple of them with tweezers so they couldn’t get away but he just doesn’t seem to be able to get his claws around it (small or large, same result).

Tonight im going to try and put a smaller one right in his face to see if he will gnaw on it without holding it himself unless someone else has a suggestion?

Ive now had this mantis for 4 days in captivity, and he was very skinny when I got him, and hes only eaten an antenna and a leg or 2 off a small insect the first night.


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## Birdfly (Oct 16, 2008)

Just a thought but could its fore arms be bent from a bad molt ?


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## Zlyph (Oct 16, 2008)

Birdfly said:


> Just a thought but could its fore arms be bent from a bad molt ?


His arms do look a bit "off" compared to my other 2 mantid, but i dont have the experience to say if they are for sure. For the sake of saftey (and until i can find my camera cable) what would you reccomend assuming his arms are messed up?


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## sidewinder (Oct 16, 2008)

If the mantid can't eat or can't eat enough to survive, the freezer might be a good option. Or you might let it go and take its chances in the wild.

S-


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## Zlyph (Oct 18, 2008)

Day 6 without food, the mantis has put down an ooth, think that pretty much solves this mystery. Hopefully she will eat now =) Im still slightly concerned but this has changed things quite a bit.


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## Zlyph (Oct 18, 2008)

No change in her status, she will still actively pursue prey, but is unable to catch any sized food. I Just tried to tweezer feed her multiple cricket sizes, she was able to rip a leg off of one while i held it for her and she devoured it very quickly. But I dont think shes long for this world. Im going to take her back where i found here last week after a few more tweezing attempts, maybe she did better in the wild.


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## Zlyph (Oct 20, 2008)

Just a final update to end this thread. I have returned her to the wild and got another one just like her, however this one is healthy and is eating well.

As to the spazzing, I think it has something to do with this species, as this one does it as well. She moves VERY fast in everything she does.


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