# Orchid sick



## hibiscusmile (May 24, 2008)

One of my adult Orchids has been sick today. She seems to be spitting brown watery stuff. Don't know whats wrong with her, she hasnt been eating either. Is it possible the lack of movin air is causing her to be sick? I have them in an enclosure that is heated and there is not really any air flow in there. I am thinking maybe better room temp with air than heated with no fresh air. I read in the Keeping aliens book that they like a lot of air.


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## ABbuggin (May 24, 2008)

I've had mantids spit the brown liquid before. For some, they died, and the others lived a healthy life. If you've been keeping it with lots of humidity and little/no ventilation that could be your problem. B)


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## hibiscusmile (May 25, 2008)

Yea thanks abuggin, she died overnight, and turned all pink!


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## mrblue (May 26, 2008)

hibiscusmile said:


> Yea thanks abuggin, she died overnight, and turned all pink!


i know its not the same species but a few years ago i had a group of p.wahlbergii turn pink and die too (it seems like i keep banging on about them! but its just this topic has come up a few times recently). have you touched her? when mine died, they turned into a pink sludge (pretty much completely decomposed, very quickly). at the time i thought this may have been bacteria/fungal infection from high humidity and poor ventilation. but at the time i would feed all my mantids crickets, so in hindsight i think this probably was the cause. i have no way of knowing if it was one or the other though. i havent had it happen since. what were you feeding her?


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 1, 2008)

mrblue said:


> i know its not the same species but a few years ago i had a group of p.wahlbergii turn pink and die too (it seems like i keep banging on about them! but its just this topic has come up a few times recently). have you touched her? when mine died, they turned into a pink sludge (pretty much completely decomposed, very quickly). at the time i thought this may have been bacteria/fungal infection from high humidity and poor ventilation. but at the time i would feed all my mantids crickets, so in hindsight i think this probably was the cause. i have no way of knowing if it was one or the other though. i havent had it happen since. what were you feeding her?


NO I did not touch her, and fed her bb flies, superworms and crickets, but she hadn't been eating either.


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## mrblue (Jun 1, 2008)

i asked about the touching not because it may have been a cause or anything, just because when i tried to take the dead ones out of the container, i couldnt even pick them up, as they were just sludge.


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 1, 2008)

Hummm, I knew what you ment, but no it wasn't and is was stiff.


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## muleyyy (Sep 3, 2008)

one of mine did the same thing... its still alive but i have often spotted watery sludgy trails on the side of the containers and wondered what it was, my chinese mantis did the same thing but it grew up big and strong, i never witnessed it "vomitting" though, but a few days ago, i saw one of my orchid mantis leave a trail of sludge on the side of its container from its mouth, it doesn't seem unhealthy though, its moving about

however! i have taken the precaution of leaving the lid bit at the top of thier viv open (i have mesh under the lid to keep the fruit flies in) hopefully that'll give the stale air somewhere to escape! maybe i'll try drying out their container tonight a bit to prevent any dyng!


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## Kikay (Sep 3, 2008)

the same happened to mine, i hope it will be ok!


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## Rob Byatt (Sep 8, 2008)

You've already answered my question.....without a doubt the death was caused by eating a 'bad' cricket.

Same applies to you. mrblue  

hibiscusmile - _H. coronatus_ needs very good ventilation - please ask me for more info if you need it


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## MantidLord (Sep 9, 2008)

Rob Byatt said:


> You've already answered my question.....without a doubt the death was caused by eating a 'bad' cricket.Same applies to you. mrblue
> 
> hibiscusmile - _H. coronatus_ needs very good ventilation - please ask me for more info if you need it


I agree. It had to be a bad cricket. I'm not saying feeding crix to mantids is a dumb idea (Rick). But last year I fed 5 wild caught pregnant females some crix that I caught outside. They all spit up the brown liquid stuff and died within the next day. None of them laid any ooths either. The next day, my mom came down and told me to be careful about catching the crix outside, because some people came by and sprayed the area. Of course it was too late, and I was upset at my mom for giving me the information afterward! The point is, a bad cricket is most likely the cause of the "brown vomit".


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