# Giant asian mantis not eating after final moult



## timp (Jun 1, 2007)

Hello again folks, I wonder if anyone can help me.

I am a bit worried about my Giant Asian Mantis. Firstly she went without eating anything for a full seven days, I was getting a bit worried about her but towards the end of those seven days she was looking as though she was about to moult, and moult she did. I managed to stay up to watch it and it was pretty cool.

(I hadn't realised that it was going to be her final moult, she is really big now and was quite small before so I thought that she might have one or two stages left. I was very surprised at the size difference, amazing to think that all that mantis was squashed up inside that tiny skin. Anyway..)

Once she shed she still wasnt interested in her food. Previously she has not eaten for a day or so after shedding so I wasnt too concerned. She will now watch her food and occasionally start to 'prey' if the food came near but she has only once eaten since shedding and that was a very small cricket that she ate five days afterwards, that was yesterday, so in all, she has only had one small cricket in the past thirteen days. She is looking a bit on the skinny side at the moment but its hard to tell as her wings cover her abdomen so I cant see how fat it is.

Does anyone have any ideas? Nothing else has changed since she shed, she is in the same enclosure, it has the same humidity and temperature as it did before she shed and she seemed perfectly happy to eat then. She is occasionally still pooing so there must be some substance inside her but i'm a little worried about her as I would have thought she would be very hungry by now.

Also, does anyone have any photos of this species of mantis with a good side view of the abdomen so that I can compare? Here are some photos of her.












She looks fatter in the pictures than she does to my eyes so maybe im worrying too much!


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## OGIGA (Jun 1, 2007)

I kind of experienced the same thing. I'm surprised at how little they actually need to eat though. Usually, after molting, they would eat less than a day later, but after the final molt, they waited a lot longer before eating like they used to. You mantis looks really good. Just try feeding her something every day.


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## Rick (Jun 1, 2007)

She should be fine. People tend to worry WAY to much about these things. Let her be and she will eat when ready. She is PLENTY plump enough so you don't have to worry about her starving. Put food in her enclosure and before long she will have a huge appetite as her eggs develop.


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## Rob Byatt (Jun 1, 2007)

Like Rick said, she is not dangerously thin.

The best thing you can do is not disturb her, remove ALL prey items, then after a couple of days try feeding her.

Rob.


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## timp (Jun 4, 2007)

Thanks everyone! I just tried feeding her again and she is eating although as I type she has paused and is giving me a strange look, im sure she'll be fine now


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## Asa (Jun 4, 2007)

Good.


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