# quick need help fast



## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

just got home and fond one of my female texas unicorns one the ground on it's side. i thought it was dead but it then moved when i tried to pic it up. i think it was trying to molt but fell. the molting process had not started yet. i have it now hanging on a paper towel but it is have spasms. will she be ok?


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

please respond.


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## patrickfraser (Aug 31, 2011)

Make sure she is hanging securely and freely and try not to move much. Spasms are natural during molting.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

I hope she will be OK.

Has there been any change in her condition? Has she molted, or started molting yet?

From your description, I can't even be sure that her problem is molt related.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

no change in condition fell again, i don't know if she will make it. could a parasite cause this behavior?


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

I am sorry to hear that, it doesn't sound good.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

her wing buds are huge so there is still hope she will molt.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

gripen said:


> no change in condition fell again, i don't know if she will make it. could a parasite cause this behavior?


Most likely not a parasite, unless she was wild caught.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

i live in mass we don't have anything near as exiting as a unicorn mantis, so not wild caught.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

What type of container does she live in? Is there plenty of ventilation?


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

she lives in the infamous critter carrier but there is more than enough vegetation to molt of. right now she is on some paper towels on the wall of the cage under constant surveillance.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

Where do you get the vegetation? Is it possible that I may be tainted with pesticides?

If she is ready to molt she will need to hang upside down.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

fake plants so no pesticides plus i have used them before without consequences. she is unable to hold on to the top.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

If she can grip it, try draping the paper towel over the open door, and try securing it by closing the door over it. Try to get her hanging and place the whole top on to the container.

OOps, I meant to add that it may be easier if you have the whole top off before fastening the towel.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

she refuses to hang on with 2 of her legs.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

i think i had this happen once before with a shield, she didn't make it.(not to be a pessimist)


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

Does she have weakness, or partial paralysis?


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

weakness definitely. if the condition does not improve by morning i think the humane thing to do would be the freezer.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

It really doesn't sound good. I am sorry.  I have never had a mantid improve after having weakness.

I just lost an adult female _Heirodula multispina_ this evening. She was only about a month into adulthood and was fine last night. Sometimes it happens, and a cause isn't obvious.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

she was doing great this morning what a bummer.


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## gripen (Aug 31, 2011)

she just passed.


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## lancaster1313 (Aug 31, 2011)

So sorry.


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## GreenOasis (Aug 31, 2011)

I have managed to salvage a few that I caught mismolting, by securing their legs with scotch tape to something. I wouldn't secure to paper towel, though...too easy for them to wrestle out of. My best success was taping just the very ends of the feet that aren't gripping (like 1 mm of the foot, MAX) to a semi-smooth plastic or finished wood-type surface. Then mist gently &amp; pray. I've never caught a Unicorn having this problem, so I don't know if the trick will work for them.

Good luck!


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## GreenOasis (Aug 31, 2011)

Terribly sorry...

Guess I was a bit late.

I have also had a few nymphs that simply "failed" to molt...like they got stuck inside or something. there's nothing that can be done with those.


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## gripen (Sep 2, 2011)

its a sad thing them just twitching and trying to molt, something went wrong on the inside.


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## ismart (Sep 2, 2011)

GreenOasis said:


> I have also had a few nymphs that simply "failed" to molt...like they got stuck inside or something. there's nothing that can be done with those.


Yes, this would be true. sometimes there exoskeleton does not split. They become mushy, and die. So sorry.


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