# horsehair worms



## Joe (Aug 2, 2006)

hey,

has anyone had a mantis infected with a parasite called horse hair worms? it typically infects grasshoppers, crickets and roaches but can also commonly infect mantises as well.captive bred mantids are almost never infected but wild mantids are usually infected and the way to get them out is to put the abdomen in water. heres a video of an infected mantis. its kinda disturbing so veiwers beware but it is a must know when your mantis is infected. i havent checked my wild caught mantids yet but i hope they arent infected  

Joe


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## wuwu (Aug 2, 2006)

someone posted about that before. i believe the mantid dies after the worm comes out.


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## bruty2fruity (Aug 3, 2006)

huh? that would make no sense?


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## Rick (Aug 3, 2006)

Vids been posted before. I have encountered parasites in mantids before back home in the midwest. I only found it in carolina mantids and it was one large maggot type parasite instead of a long thin worm. Have not seen it in years though.


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## Jwonni (Aug 3, 2006)

what would make no sense?

this was posted here or somewhere else i go recently


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## julian camilo (Aug 3, 2006)

im assuming he means it makes no sense to him that the mantis dies after the worm leaves.


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## Jwonni (Aug 3, 2006)

lots of hosts die usually ones getting eaten from the inside

those worms are huge and several come out of one if i remember correctly


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## Ian (Aug 3, 2006)

Woah, thats crazy...the size on that worm. I would imagine the mantis would die after that had been excreted...


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## bruty2fruity (Aug 3, 2006)

> lots of hosts die usually ones getting eaten from the insidethose worms are huge and several come out of one if i remember correctly


they dont actually feed off the insides, the mantis would just eat more to sustain the worm and itself. anyway thats the larvae it usually turns into a mosquito after sending chemical messages to the mantids brain to jump into the nearest form of water - but then again i could be wrong.


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## bruty2fruity (Aug 3, 2006)

my mistake they dont feed off the insides unless the host stops eating. they stay in the gut and they do once there matured (as seen in vid) then they get the mantis to junmo into the water so that they can breed and start over again


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## Christian (Aug 4, 2006)

The mantis dies when the worm emerges. Not immediately (if it does not drown), but soon after. The worm nourishes from mantid body mass, and this causes the mantis' death.

Regards,

Christian


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## bruty2fruity (Aug 7, 2006)

but how can that be if its sitting in the gut. its basically feeding off the food eaten by the mantis - not the mantis itself so passing it through would only rid the worm., surely not?


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## Jwonni (Aug 7, 2006)

would they not tear their way out as they dont just appear when the mantis poo's they decide to come out when in water so i think they would have to rip out


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## Christian (Aug 7, 2006)

The worm does not live in the gut, but outside of it in the body. It just comes out often by the anus, sometimes also between to segments.

Christian


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## Shelbycsx (Dec 11, 2006)

Wowsers that suxors.... Anyone know how to tell if a mantis is infected with something?(other than the obvious signs such as a worm hanging out it's anus) At least mantids don't feel pain eh....


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## FieroRumor (Dec 27, 2006)

I posted this video here a whiule ago.... very sick! :0


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## Fisherman_Brazil (Mar 17, 2007)

In Taiwan, the worms first find their host living in water, like dragonfly lava, then as the mantis preying the dragonfly adult, worms will find its wawy to the new host, the mantis, as a result. What comes the next is the end of the mantids on the way to the water source or drown therein.


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## OGIGA (Mar 17, 2007)

That's so sad. Poor mantis. I can't believe that big of a worm fits inside a mantis.


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