# do mantids urinate?



## joel (Jul 16, 2008)

my giant indian mantis has twice sprayed some form of liquid from his bottom end

(sorry not sure of its name)

i figured this could be urine as its where he excretes from too,

but cant find any info on it so wondered if anyone knew?

could it be some kind of self defence maybe?

as it has been whilst he is handled

thanks in advance

joel


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## macro junkie (Jul 16, 2008)

im not sure if they urinate but i know the spray your talking about is a form of defence.


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## The_Asa (Jul 16, 2008)

Your question was put poetically  

Some mantids use this spray as a form of defence.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 16, 2008)

:blink: Thank God I have not encountered it!


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## idolomantis (Jul 16, 2008)

hibiscusmile said:


> :blink: Thank God I have not encountered it!


i guess we are the people who stick on just getting bitten or something, no weird pray stink water thingy for me :blink:


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## OGIGA (Jul 16, 2008)

I only had this happen to me once.


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## Christian (Jul 17, 2008)

I never encountered this as a defensive mechanism. In fact, it happens often when mantids are well-fed, regardless of people witnessing it or not. It is not quite clear what is is for, as insects usually excrete ureatic acid, which is solid and whitish and a part of the faeces. However, well-fed mantids often spit a drop of a yellowish liquid from their anus. As they don't need to excrete this way, we supposed it is to eliminate rather surplus water than nitrogen. That's why starved mantids or moderately fed ones never do it. It may be possible that overfed mantids try to extract the nutrients from the prey but have to get rid of surplus water and/or urea nitrogen. In the latter case it would be interesting to know if it's ureatic acid or urea. Ureatic acid is not soluble in water, urea is. However, the yellowish liquid seems to be more an emulsion than a solution, so probably it contains ureatic acid.

In any case, if you encounter this too often, better feed the mantids less.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 17, 2008)

Christian, thanks for the info, I have not noticed it, but I do feed mine almost everyday, is there something to look for which would tell me it is happening even when I don't Notice it?


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## Christian (Jul 17, 2008)

Well, how often do you have to clean the windows of the terraria? :lol:


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## The_Asa (Jul 17, 2008)

Christian said:


> However, well-fed mantids often spit a drop of a yellowish liquid from their anus.


I thought we were talking about the spray? :huh:


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## Pelle (Jul 17, 2008)

I've also seen it once by my _H.coronatus_ female, she fired it approximately 20 cm far away


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## Christian (Jul 17, 2008)

It's not a spray, it's several small droplets.


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## The_Asa (Jul 17, 2008)

Christian said:


> It's not a spray, it's several small droplets.


I've never seen what you're talking about...My chinese and marbled spray...


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## MANTIS DUDE (Jul 17, 2008)

Well crickets and things will poop or somthing in your hand, so why not mantids? When ever i pick up a wild grasshoper/cricket it always lets out this brown liquid in my hand, lol!


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## idolomantis (Jul 17, 2008)

MANTIS DUDE said:


> Well crickets and things will poop or somthing in your hand, so why not mantids? When ever i pick up a wild grasshoper/cricket it always lets out this brown liquid in my hand, lol!


yea grasshoppers spit something...


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## Christian (Jul 17, 2008)

Crickets and grasshoppers (and also mantids) regurgitate as a defense mechanism. The stuff we are talking about pops out the other hole... :lol:


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## Kashmir79 (Jul 17, 2008)

what a lovely conversation hahaha Urine and poo :lol:


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## idolomantis (Jul 17, 2008)

Kashmir79 said:


> what a lovely conversation hahaha Urine and poo :lol:


well it is atleat not human :blink:


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## Borya (Jul 18, 2008)

After drying, it looks like white powder. I never saw mantids doing this for defence.


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## Christian (Jul 18, 2008)

Borya said:


> After drying, it looks like white powder. I never saw mantids doing this for defence.


That's why I think it's ureatic acid.


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## Rick (Jul 18, 2008)

Never saw a mantids spraying as a defense either. No idea where you guys got that idea from.


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## idolomantis (Jul 18, 2008)

Rick said:


> Never saw a mantids spraying as a defense either. No idea where you guys got that idea from.


me neither, i only had bite and claw attacks orr "the old fashiond way"


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## MANTIS DUDE (Jul 19, 2008)

YUCK!


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## joel (Jul 20, 2008)

thanks for your input,

all of you

when he sprayed at my girlfriend it went on her hand,

and she said it started stinging before she washed it off?

could this point towards the acid theory?

p.s the stuff im talking bout did fire quite far, just under a foot or so

p.p.s i do feed him quite often he is often quite 'bloated'

thank for your help il try the feeding him less as he has also turned his nose up twice at food recently

but eaten in between so is not shedding

thanks again!!! this site has helped me so much as a beginner!

joel


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## libertine101 (Jul 26, 2008)

My mantis has done this several times while I have been handling her, I thought maybe it was just the mantids way of getting rid of excess fluid. Wouldnt it aim the fluid at the threating stimuli if it was a defense mechanism? As far as I can see it just releases its load in any old direction.


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## Meiji (Aug 1, 2008)

An hour ago, in response to being disturbed, my over-fed sub-adult Chinese Mantis shot a drop of a urine-like substance backwards with a fair amount of force. Should I rub his nose in it? (kidding)


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## Peter Clausen (Aug 1, 2008)

I rarely witness the event, but the residue is a sign that it happens fairly often.

However, two nights ago I did see an adult female _H. coronatus_ (Orchid Mantis) do this. She was already well fed, but I fed her 2 more good-sized roaches. While she was eating the second, I put a male on her back. He hunkered down as males do and began the occasional drumming behavior. Soon, she finished the second roach. I had introduced a few more roaches to the enclosure for her to feed on if she became hungry (a good alternative to that bite-sized meal riding on her back!).

A short while later the male was getting nowhere, but she didn't seem to be upset about his presence so I left him. She had managed to capture another roach. I'm always a bit relieved to see her eating something ELSE, because it's the only time I truly feel the male is safe. As I watched and dreamed a bit about a successful pairing, she leaned her abdomen over the side of her wings and out came the translucent liquid. As Christian said, it dried into a powdery liquid (now two days later). This particular cage is screened on the top and on two sides. All this ventilation contributes towards drying the excretion. In my plastic enclosures with minimal ventilation the liquid will begin to yellow and will often turn brown if I don't clean the inner surfaces. Sometimes people don't notice this liquid until it begins to change color and then they believe their mantis is directly excreting brown liquid. (other times the mantises do excrete brown liquid, but that's a different situation.)

Please note the spray patterns will vary with the size and shape of your cage and of course the distance the spray travels. This particular enclosure is 12 X 12 X 18 inches and the female was near the top. You can see that gravity settled the solid portions of the liquid towards the bottom as it dried. (there are also some water stains all over the glass).

So, I would imagine that it did happen because there was no additonal space in her gut and it's a lot quicker to evacuate liquids than solids.


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## hibiscusmile (Aug 1, 2008)

:blink: Well that explains that! Now I know what I am looking at. I thought it was poo! It smells sometimes like pee when their cages get dirty (  course u know mine don't get dirty :lol: ) hah! But never happened in my hand before, for which I am thankful.


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## collinchang635 (Aug 1, 2008)

I've seen that stuff on the inside of my mantids cage but I never knew it was excess fluid. Thanks for the info  BTW Can someone check out my topic about the tropidomantis. The topic is found in 'General Mantid Discussions'. I need a fast reply because i'm afraid she might lay another ooth


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