# red liquid



## Zelthan (Apr 16, 2009)

Hi one of my subadult stagmomantis is producing some red liquid I`m not shure where does it come from but Ive seen it on the walls of the dely cup


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## bassist (Apr 16, 2009)

I believe that is mantis vomit.


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## Rick (Apr 16, 2009)

bassist said:


> I believe that is mantis vomit.


Yes it is. Happens from time to time with mine. I wouldn't worry unless the mantis keeps doing it and gets really thin. If it keeps up take a look at what you feed it and what the food is eating. Usually in my experience it isn't a big deal.


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## lectricblueyes (Apr 16, 2009)

Has the mantis been out drinking lately? Does it come home late at night? Does it mate with other large mantids and then not remember the next morning who that mantid is?


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## Katnapper (Apr 16, 2009)

LectricBlueyes said:


> Has the mantis been out drinking lately? Does it come home late at night? Does it mate with other large mantids and then not remember the next morning who that mantid is?


  :lol: 

I hope the vomiting stops, Zeth, and your mantis regains best health. You'll have to let us know how he does.


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## kamakiri (Apr 16, 2009)

Could be from the front or back. I haven't seen red fluid before.

It'll probably be okay, but I've had vomiting mantises go either way.

Good luck to your mantis.


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## OGIGA (Apr 16, 2009)

What did you feed it?


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## Zelthan (Apr 16, 2009)

crikets and ocasionally a peanut mealbug, but her sisters and brothers are fine, she havent got thin, eats well


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## Zelthan (Apr 16, 2009)

LectricBlueyes said:


> Has the mantis been out drinking lately? Does it come home late at night? Does it mate with other large mantids and then not remember the next morning who that mantid is?


LoL :lol: I guess the only guilty one could be a large phasmomantis that lives next to her


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## massaman (Jul 21, 2009)

my sub adult chinese mantis is having this same problem with the red liquid and trying to figure out what is the cause dont know if it was when i fed it some dragon flies or ground bees or a giant grasshopper as it only ate the head of the grasshopper and been about a day and still producing the red liquid from the mouth. I am getting concerned as would my female is not trying to eat anything but all she does is lean onto the sides of the cage and spew the red liquid and wondering is she trying to get rid of whats giving her the problem .Has anyone had a mantis do this red liquid spewing for more then a day!Wondering if releasing her into the wild would help any or try the honey method or just wait it out!


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## massaman (Jul 21, 2009)

Worried it could probably have this maybe or something similar

http://www.ukmantisforums.co.uk/health-iss...rgii-vomit.html


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## Christian (Jul 21, 2009)

Vomiting usually *is* a big deal, if occurring that late, as the mantids don't really recover. Even if it looks so, the specimen will usually be infertile and short-lived as an adult.


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 21, 2009)

Christian said:


> Vomiting usually *is* a big deal, if occurring that late, as the mantids don't really recover. Even if it looks so, the specimen will usually be infertile and short-lived as an adult.


Interesting. I'd never heard that, but it makes me glad that this is a very rare thing for me. Any idea about the etiology or the connection between vomiting and infertility? I'll have to take a closer note of what happens to my own mantids that exhibit this.


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## Christian (Jul 21, 2009)

The relationship is not known, it is still puzzling to us. Even why mantids vomit at all still deserves research (the only "natural" reason may be non-palatability of prey due to toxines), and why they don't recover when it happens late in the development is still unknown. I know that some use to argue that they had mantids that recovered, but this would deserve a thorough analysis of lifespan and fertility, so I tend not to believe such rumor, as all cases we know of affected the mantids negatively.

On the other hand, when it occurs early in development, the survivors often seem to recover well. There are, by the way, two reasons for vomiting (at least that are my observations):

1. vomiting due to crickets/bad food/infection -&gt; almost always lethal.

2. vomiting due to high temperatures/bad ventilation, particularly due to high night temps. -&gt; this can be "cured" to a certain degree by adjusting the conditions (lowering T, enhancing V). I sometimes have this case with L1 _Deroplatys_ and others when it doesn't cool down enough by night during summertime.


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## ismart (Jul 21, 2009)

Christian said:


> The relationship is not known, it is still puzzling to us. Even why mantids vomit at all still deserves research (the only "natural" reason may be non-palatability of prey due to toxines), and why they don't recover when it happens late in the development is still unknown. I know that some use to argue that they had mantids that recovered, but this would deserve a thorough analysis of lifespan and fertility, so I tend not to believe such rumor, as all cases we know of affected the mantids negatively. On the other hand, when it occurs early in development, the survivors often seem to recover well. There are, by the way, two reasons for vomiting (at least that are my observations):
> 
> 1. vomiting due to crickets/bad food/infection -&gt; almost always lethal.
> 
> 2. vomiting due to high temperatures/bad ventilation, particularly due to high night temps. -&gt; this can be "cured" to a certain degree by adjusting the conditions (lowering T, enhancing V). I sometimes have this case with L1 _Deroplatys_ and others when it doesn't cool down enough by night during summertime.


Absolutely brilliant! Thank-you! Christian! From what i have experienced ''you hit the nail right on the head''.


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## PhilinYuma (Jul 21, 2009)

Your reply, Christian, may also explain an odd observation that I made when I returned from 8 days away from my mantids. Due partly to bad luck and bad management, I did not have enough spikes or pupae to tide them over, so I gave them each three crix before leaving. They all survived, but three pots had huge reddish brown stains on them, though the critters seemed ok, albeit hungry. I left the a.c. on, of course, and the temp in my bug room is usually around 80F (&gt;30C). I assumed that the vomit was due to a surfeit of crix (maybe it was) but while I was in Florence an even smaller town than Yuma, we had "rolling blackouts" for several days after a storm when power was diverted from Yuma, Florence and other small towns to nearby Phoenix, the state capital. This means that the temperature in my bug room probably reached nearly 100F (45C) for several hours at a time over two days, and may explain the vomiting.


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## massaman (Jul 21, 2009)

my mantis did stop vomitting though and she does do her cleaning like a cat and she does tend to get around but has not seemed to gotten her appetite back so wondering if i just need to continue observing my mantis and just make sure things dont get out of hand!


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## superfreak (Jul 21, 2009)

interesting. my mantids survive on nothing but crix during winter and i VERY rarely see vomit on the cages. ive never thought about the heat being too high, as i thought aussie species would be used to it   

no massa, you dont need to keep her under observation. do what you do normally. whether youre watching or not wont make a bit of difference to her recovery. you can just hope


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