# Something is moving inside my mantis



## RedHead (Oct 7, 2016)

so my L3 giant Asian mantis ate yesterday some flies I ordered.  Now I see a black spot inside him close to his head before his abdomen and it's wiggling up and down. What could this be? It's not always moving but it moves up and down a little if he is standing vertical.  He is a lot more active since he ate yesterday but this black blob is really weird and was not there before.   It moves like fly larvae does.  Any ideas?


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## Ranitomeya (Oct 7, 2016)

You're probably just watching its gut being moved around by the muscular contractions of the abdomen. Digestion and absorbtion of nutrients works best if food is moving around and coming into contact with enzymes and the lining of the gut through which nutrients are absorbed.


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## RedHead (Oct 8, 2016)

Thank you I've been literally just staring at this thing thinking the worst.  I'm so glad I found this site.


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## MajorManny (Oct 23, 2016)

I have a giant asian mantis as well and can confirm that this is just the way it looks when they digest. Kind of icky, but also pretty fascinating. You can watch their 'necks' when they eat and see the food going down too.


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## MajorManny (Oct 23, 2016)

Oops, this is old, sorry! Hope everything's okay!


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## CosbyArt (Oct 23, 2016)

MajorManny said:


> Oops, this is old, sorry! Hope everything's okay!


Not a problem, and I'm curious if it was nothing to worry about too.  Many here tend to revive threads that are a year or two old if there is a reason (the short "great idea", "looks good", "thanks", or such posts though can be annoying and pointless); after all, locking threads or having a limited response time on topics is a silly rule only on other forums.

So @RedHead how is your Giant Asian mantis doing? Hopefully it was nothing to worry about, and being so young a parasitic problem is highly doubtful.


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## RedHead (Jan 8, 2017)

The black stuff moving was digestion I believe it showed up after every feeding. Now as of yesterday Patrick is vomiting and I can see the black rise from his abdomen towards his head slowly then he vomits.  I'm going to continue to try honey and hope it sorts itself.  I never expected to get so attached to an insect but he is my buddy and I seriously love this guy. I wish he could tell me whats wrong. Thanks for following up.


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## CosbyArt (Jan 9, 2017)

@RedHead Great that it was just his translucent exoskeleton showing his insides, and nothing serious. I see you did another post about the vomit, so I will post there about that.


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