# Yoda is throwing up (I think)



## Mantis Lady (Jun 9, 2018)

I am worried about yoda.

I see  brownish stuff on the lid of yoda's home. I think he is vomiting that. Think it has started after his last molt. He doesn't seem sick. His abdomen looks flat if he has emptied himself. He is active and alert. I am going to buy him some honey and will give him extra water .I hope it is not bad and he won't die  

If someone has more tips to help little Yoda, I would like to hear it.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 9, 2018)

I have put him in a clean cup with clean stuff. When i am going to do groceries i will get him some honey.


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## Synapze (Jun 9, 2018)

Get better, Yoda!


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 9, 2018)

Give him as much honey as he will take.  Also give him a lot of water to help him clear out his system. I hope this isn't something too serious! Does his vomit have a strong smell? Can you post a picture?

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 9, 2018)

I sniffed at the lid of his enclosure but the stuff doesn't smell.

I tried to feed him the honey on a small stick. but he isn't used to be fed like that. he was moving his face away every time i put the stick before his face. but some of it came on his face so with cleaning he ate some of it. will try later to force him to get some honey in his belly again.

Here some pics of the puke on the lid of his home. the other one I tossed away. Too dirty to use. What you see if from this afteroon. On the cup was some spots too, but I cleaned that.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 9, 2018)

I just misted Yodas home and he started drinking. He can lick his whole cup clean if he wants to. poor yoda... I mist him more often to let him drink. I think he  lost a lot of fluids with vomiting...?


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 9, 2018)

Yeah, you should let him drink a lot, and then give him honey diluted with water. Good luck!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 10, 2018)

He drank water with honey and ate a few bites of roach  goo. It isn't much, but every bit counts. But in his behaviour he isn't acting sick.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 10, 2018)

Good! "Be feeling better I hope you will" -Yoda  

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 11, 2018)

Good news!

Yoda grabbed his cricket all by him self and he is devouring it if he hasnt't eaten in days (that is true) I will still give him some honey water later on the day for extra energy. I am so happy he grabbed his prey by himself :clap: I hope  he won't vomit now and his food stays in his abdomen where it belongs.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 11, 2018)

Yay! I am so glad he is getting better!!!!!!!! I hope he gets all the way better very soon, an he does not get sick again.            

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 11, 2018)

i haven't seen vomits spots on the lid of his cup today. So he is keeping his food inside. I don't know what it was. Maybe a bad cricket I don't know. Thanks everyone for advise and helping me out.?


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 11, 2018)

Here is Yoda enjoying his meal after days of not eating.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 11, 2018)

YAY YODA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy for you. It must be a load off of your mind to know that he is ok!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 12, 2018)

Yup, it was. You buy your mantids to see then grow up. and you see one stop eating for days and throwing up, you feel helpless. Still wondering what made him sick. But simple things like extra water and honey helped him to get better again. A little mantis like a creo is hard to force feed/drink with their little heads.  I want him to grow up and see his "smiley" on his wings later.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 12, 2018)

Yeah, he will be a beautiful adult! I hate feeling helpless when it comes to things like sickness, but I love MantidForum because we can all learn these things together!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 12, 2018)

Guys. Yoda did vomit again. I just woke up from from my nap and the first thing I do is always have a look at my mantids. And I saw brownish goo on the lid again....


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## Synapze (Jun 12, 2018)

Are you able to see the vomit on his mouth before it ends up on the lid? Is it also brown?


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 12, 2018)

No, I havn't seen him doing it.. I see him hanging on the lid of his cup.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 12, 2018)

I gave him honey water and he drank of it. Did put him in a clean cup again and mist it so i can drink from there too. Will try to keep his fluids level up.  Poor thing... Am I doing something wrong?


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## Synapze (Jun 12, 2018)

Sounds like you are doing all you can at this point. Hopefully all of the fluids will flush it all out soon.

Get better, Yoda!


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## Ocelotbren (Jun 12, 2018)

Not sure if you have yet, but you could try a different type of feeder or a different batch.  Another factor is that you may want to wait a day after seeing vomit to try feeding again to let his system get cleared out.  You could keep up with the honey and water, but hold off on the food to make sure the bad stuff is out before feeding again.  Just an idea.

Hope it helps!


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 12, 2018)

@Ocelotbrenwhat feeder should I give him? I have grasshoppers that are too big. Dubia's are way too big.  The little crickets I have bought specially for the little ones I have.

Yeah I think it is indeed better to keep him longer on honey water.


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## Ocelotbren (Jun 12, 2018)

It doesn't matter really, just something different.  Flies are always a safe and easy option if you can get any, even by catching them outside.  Moths too if you're going that route.  I just figured you could rule out the possibility if the feeders being related to the problem by trying a new feeder.  One of my Rhomboderas just threw up recently after eating a cricket on two separate occasions even though the other two didn't react at all to crickets from the same batch, so I just give him flies now to be safe.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 12, 2018)

The others are eating the same crickets and they are all ok. He has eaten them too. Maybe I should buy him some flies. Maybe his stomach can handle that better.


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## Synapze (Jun 12, 2018)

I feed all of my mantid's a diet consisting of blue bottle flies as the main staple, an occasional decapitated mealworm or mealworm larvae, and sometimes a found insect. I often throw in larger D. hydei as little treats for my larger mantids since I usually have them on hand. I know there's a debate over crickets or no crickets, but I just choose not to use them as feeders because I'm paranoid.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 12, 2018)

i have always fed the very small ones on fruitflies an when they got bigger crickets, grasshoppers and dubias, maybe I should buy 1 culture of fruitflies for Yoda and give them as snacks for the bigger mantids.

with Cochise I had never problems with crickets. With more mantids in my collcection now, I can give them more various prey to eat to eat.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 12, 2018)

@Synapze I am glad the mealworms are decapitated!   

@Little Mantis Fruit fly cultures are very good sources of prey. Varied prey is good for the mantids!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 13, 2018)

I hate fruitflies  because they want to run out of the cups instead of staying inside. But for sick Yoda I will buy them. He haven't vomited since yesterday afternoon. The honey water stays inside.


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## Predatorhousepet (Jun 13, 2018)

Glad he is keeping the honey water down at least.

You can try chilling the fruit flies in the fridge for a few minutes to knock them out and when they start waking back up they will be slower and easier to deal with. I do that with the fruit flies that can still fly but for the flightless varieties I just keep tapping the cup on a hard surface every few seconds to knock down the ones climbing up the sides. Another way to manage them is to put the total amount you plan to use in a separate empty cup then add a small amount of finely powdered bee pollen or extra fine calcium powder and shake to coat the flies. It slows them down a lot until they clean it off themselves. The bee pollen is a bonus for the mantis nutritionally.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 13, 2018)

I am very glad he stopped vomiting for the time being, and I hope the honey water can help him get better! Can he catch the fruit flies by himself?

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 13, 2018)

Havn't had put a few flies in his cup yet. Prefer to wait longer. But if he gets hungry then he can catch it himself. He doesn't seem weak.

@Predatorhousepetgood idea to put them in fridge for a couple of minuts too. Will do that before feeding Yoda or the other very small ones with it. With crickets it works fine.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 13, 2018)

@Little Mantis Make sure you don't forget about the ff in the fridge! I have done that, and when dad found the ff in the fridge he was a little upset   

- MantisGirl13


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## Predatorhousepet (Jun 13, 2018)

MantisGirl13 said:


> @Little Mantis Make sure you don't forget about the ff in the fridge! I have done that, and when dad found the ff in the fridge he was a little upset
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Lol, same. My roommate has found forgotten cultures in the fridge more than once and didn't appreciate that at all....so I bought a mini fridge to keep in my insect room. Now I store all the pupae there and use it to shock adult flies. The nice thing about this besides it being right next to my mantises is that I can keep this fridge slightly warmer than our food fridge so the pupa last longer.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 13, 2018)

@Predatorhousepet That is a good idea! I hate losing that many flies!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 14, 2018)

MantisGirl13 said:


> @Little Mantis Make sure you don't forget about the ff in the fridge! I have done that, and when dad found the ff in the fridge he was a little upset
> 
> - MantisGirl13


LOL, I think my husband has seen once a box with crickets in the fridge. I wanted to move them to clean box and when they are slowed down, they won't go jummping to everywhere.  while moving them.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 14, 2018)

Little Mantis said:


> LOL, I think my husband has seen once a box with crickets in the fridge. I wanted to move them to clean box and when they are slowed down, they won't go jummping to everywhere.  while moving them.


Haha! Yep, you never know what you'll find in the fridge when you are around us mantis people! My dad was complaining about fly pupae in the lunch meat drawer the other day   

- MantisGirl13


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## Ocelotbren (Jun 14, 2018)

I try to keep my pupae out of the way in the fridge so as not to disturb my husband.    But I have forgotten flies in the freezer before and realized much too late that I had been about to feed my mantises at one point.  I have had blue bottles come back from being in the freezer for much longer than I would have expected them to survive though.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 14, 2018)

Ocelotbren said:


> I try to keep my pupae out of the way in the fridge so as not to disturb my husband.    But I have forgotten flies in the freezer before and realized much too late that I had been about to feed my mantises at one point.  I have had blue bottles come back from being in the freezer for much longer than I would have expected them to survive though.


   Yeah, our fridge doesn't really have an out of the way spot. I hate it when I forget that I was in the middle of feeding mantids and go and do something else! I have left flies in the freezer, the roaches out, or the lid half off the mantis cage!   

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 14, 2018)

If I need to slow crickets down, I do it during the working day. Then hubby isn't at home.  Then he won't find insects in the fridge. He already think I am keeping  "pests".

I have put my fruitflies culture in de fridge to slow them down  and gave Yoda some fruitflies. Maybe he can keep those inside. I am keeping an eye on him to see if he eats them.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 14, 2018)

*Yoda update*: I have put a few fruitflies in his cup  and he ate them. (I don't see them anymore) I hope he will keep that inside and not throwing it out again. I will give him a bit of honey water before sleeping.

He is alert and wanted to explore today... he did even a big jump. I keep my fingers crossed for him.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 14, 2018)

I hope he keeps his flies inside and gets better. (he hasn't vomited yet.) He is a cute little guy.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 14, 2018)

Yay Yoda! I hope he does get better, and that he doesn't throw up those fruit flies. Good job with him!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 15, 2018)

I don't see vomit spots. That is a good sign. I will see how he is doing today with a few new flies.


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## Predatorhousepet (Jun 15, 2018)

Great! Hopefully he will be able to keep it down this time.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 15, 2018)

Predatorhousepet said:


> Great! Hopefully he will be able to keep it down this time. ﻿


Should i still give him honey water? or will flies be enough and normal misting be ok?


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## Predatorhousepet (Jun 15, 2018)

If he is acting normal and eating without throwing up then you can stop the honey water for now and just use it as an occasional treat or if he needs a little boost. Go ahead and resume regular misting and feeding flies and see how he does.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 15, 2018)

Predatorhousepet said:


> If he is acting normal and eating without throwing up then you can stop the honey water for now and just use it as an occasional treat or if he needs a little boost. Go ahead and resume regular misting and feeding flies and see how he does.


I hope he is well enough to keep his flies down now!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 15, 2018)

yup he does


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 15, 2018)

I am so glad! How is he now?

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 15, 2018)

He is keeping his food inside so that is good. ?


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 16, 2018)

Little Mantis said:


> He is keeping his food inside so that is good. ?


Agreed! You did a great job of nursing him back to health.

- MantisGirl13


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## cwebster (Jun 16, 2018)

Hope Yoda is all better soon.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 16, 2018)

He didn't throw up again, he keeps his food in his belly and that is ok. I love when mantids eats good.?


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 17, 2018)

I hope he is better for good this time! Good job taking care of him!

- MantisGirl13


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## cwebster (Jun 17, 2018)

Hope the flies suit him better and that he is well very soon.


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 17, 2018)

he got grasshopper abdomen this morning and he likes it. I am thinking not giving him crickets anymore.


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 18, 2018)

Yeah, that might be a good idea. Keep feeding him grasshoppers and see how he likes it!

- MantisGirl13


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