# Orchid female suddenly dies



## etb99 (Sep 21, 2008)

Last week one of my orchid females matured. All seemed to go well, she fed ravenously on flies for a few days. And then suddenly she died yesterday. I don't see why. Can a mantis die due to overfeeding? Seems unlikely to me. I used the same flies I also gave to other mantids and they are fine. In fact all other mantids seem fine, so humidity, temps etc should be OK.

Any ideas? Just trying to understand what went wrong so I can avoid it next time.


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## collinchang635 (Sep 21, 2008)

I *think* overfeeding can caus death but it is very rare.


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## Peter Clausen (Sep 21, 2008)

How many flies did she eat following her final molt (before her death)?

Sometimes a mantis will be underfed prior to molting and then the molting process consumes so much energy that the mantis quickly dies.


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## etb99 (Sep 21, 2008)

Peter said:


> How many flies did she eat following her final molt (before her death)?Sometimes a mantis will be underfed prior to molting and then the molting process consumes so much energy that the mantis quickly dies.


She was really well fed. I buy maggots and let them pupate, so there is never a shortage of flies here.


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## Rick (Sep 21, 2008)

Sometimes it jsut happens. I had a mantis die with no obvious reason this past week.


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## Fisherman_Brazil (Sep 21, 2008)

Any idea what the temperature was? My experience with this sepcies, they cannot go through 32C or 90F with 60-70%RH. I am told, lowland species could make it though at 35C, but never experienced myself.


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## etb99 (Sep 21, 2008)

Fisherman_Brazil said:


> Any idea what the temperature was? My experience with this sepcies, they cannot go through 32C or 90F with 60-70%RH. I am told, lowland species could make it though at 35C, but never experienced myself.


Can't be high temps either, 22 low and 27 high and all the others are fine. Maybe its just one of those things ....

I have two more due to shed any day, so fingers crossed they'll do better.


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## mrblue (Sep 23, 2008)

> In fact all other mantids seem fine, so humidity, temps etc should be OK.


im not saying its humidity or temperature that is wrong, but i thought its worth pointing out that even if the other mantids are seemingly fine, that doesnt rule out wrong conditions. often mantids will "seem fine" right up until they die. if the conditions become for example too hot or too humid, you cant expect all the mantids to die at precisely the same time. some may be a little more tolerant or hardy, while the weaker ones may not be able to stand the conditions. even if (for example) some make it to adulthood but some die, this still doesnt rule out wrong conditions and could simply be showing that some individuals are hardier or more tolerant than the others. really, if the conditions were truly right, none would die (maybe "none" is taking it a bit far, i dont really know, but you get my point).


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## Rob Byatt (Sep 23, 2008)

Are fleis the only food she ate ?


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## etb99 (Sep 23, 2008)

Rob Byatt said:


> Are fleis the only food she ate ?


Flies and the occasional wax moth. That's it, same as I give to the other orchid mantids.

And MrBlue, I understand what you mean. There must be something wrong, I just haven't figured out what. Ah well, I don't give up easily, so I should get there in the end.


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