# Final molt for orchid male



## OGIGA (Apr 23, 2007)

I have been waiting forever for my orchid male to molt. He's almost completely pink. He only had three meals (2 small meals, 1 large meal) since his previous molt and has not eaten for almost two weeks. I'm getting a little concerned. How long does it usually take between the final two molts?


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## robo mantis (Apr 23, 2007)

2-4 weeks under warm conditions.


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## OGIGA (Apr 24, 2007)

I see. It has been 20 days already.


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## robo mantis (Apr 24, 2007)

yeah so give it time, heat, and moisture.


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## OGIGA (Apr 24, 2007)

How ironic. He molted to adult overnight. Molted beautifully!  Woohoo! Man, he's tiny.


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## Jwonni (Apr 24, 2007)

i remember my little males they are really small arnt they but they are still cool little characters

glad he shed and it was successful for you


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## robo mantis (Apr 24, 2007)

Congrats


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## pak-40 (Apr 24, 2007)

I had bought some L4'Orchids from Yen about a month ago. Im sitting here right now watching a male moult into an adult. I had wanted to witness the "event" for quite a while but Im just now getting the chance. It is really quite amazing to watch. It was over much quicker than I thought it would be. He started twitching about 30 minutes ago. 5 minutes later his back split open and he just crawled out. The actual "shed" lasted all of about 3 minutes. He is now hanging upside down from the screen at the top of his cage. Ill be interested to see how long it takes for his wings to harden. I would love to post some pics but my wife and I moved recently and our digital camera is still in one of the many boxes we have yet to unpack.


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## robo mantis (Apr 24, 2007)

Cool (you lose everything while moving lol)


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## OGIGA (Apr 24, 2007)

> I had wanted to witness the "event" for quite a while but Im just now getting the chance. It is really quite amazing to watch. It was over much quicker than I thought it would be. He started twitching about 30 minutes ago. 5 minutes later his back split open and he just crawled out. The actual "shed" lasted all of about 3 minutes. He is now hanging upside down from the screen at the top of his cage. Ill be interested to see how long it takes for his wings to harden.


I have watched my other mantises molt, but I missed all three times in which my orchids molted. I have one more chance (until I get ooths) with my orchid female!


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## OGIGA (Apr 24, 2007)

Here's how he ended up.


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## OGIGA (Apr 25, 2007)

After almost two weeks of no food, I finally got him to eat two blue bottles.


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## yen_saw (Apr 25, 2007)

Glad to see your adult male matured into adult, good job Ogiga! How about the female i sent you, is she at subadult? You may want to feed the female constantly and keep her warm (85-90F) to speed up the process but it should still be alright at normal speed as both should still be able to mate eventhough he is slightly older. The male should live for around 4-5 months. Good luck!


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## OGIGA (Apr 25, 2007)

Yeah, the female is at subadult. I just fed her a whole bunch of blue bottles last night. It's great feeding her because she's really happy to take food.


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