# My crippled mantis



## Rick (Mar 22, 2008)

Female shield. mantis. Fell during molt. Both front legs are messed up. On is just bent back and the other has a part that is bent. She is normal otherwise but has to be hand fed. She has trouble but can get ahold of the food with my help. Think she will be able to molt?


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## Mantida (Mar 22, 2008)

I didn't think you handfed mantids, Rick, as in the past I've always seen you say you just let nature take the course.  

Her back legs look fine, I'm sure she'll be able to pull it off with your handfeeding, of course. Back in the day when I was an amateur mantis keeper, I had a lot of mismolt chinese mantids that looked a lot worse and were able to molt.


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## Rick (Mar 22, 2008)

Mantida said:


> I didn't think you handfed mantids, Rick, as in the past I've always seen you say you just let nature take the course.  Her back legs look fine, I'm sure she'll be able to pull it off with your handfeeding, of course. Back in the day when I was an amateur mantis keeper, I had a lot of mismolt chinese mantids that looked a lot worse and were able to molt.


I normally don't have the time but these are nice and she is normal otherwise. She is subadult so I just want to see if she can make it.


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## asdsdf (Mar 22, 2008)

It seems like she would, since they don't really need their front legs to molt, but then again, since they are bent, it might get stuck in its own skin. There is no gaurantee that she will gain back her use of her front legs even if she molts though. If you are willing to undergo a commitment, you can cut off the bent parts so it can molt properly, but it won't have functional front legs when it molts. You'll have to hand feed her all your life.


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## Rick (Mar 23, 2008)

asdsdf said:


> It seems like she would, since they don't really need their front legs to molt, but then again, since they are bent, it might get stuck in its own skin. There is no gaurantee that she will gain back her use of her front legs even if she molts though. If you are willing to undergo a commitment, you can cut off the bent parts so it can molt properly, but it won't have functional front legs when it molts. You'll have to hand feed her all your life.


Yeah I know and I have thought about all of that. She can hold the food so I am not going to snip anything off. I am just going to wait and see kind of as an experiment. I doubt I will be hand feeding her all my life since hopefully I outlast her.


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## OGIGA (Mar 25, 2008)

Wow, Rick... you're the last person I expect to ask this question. Anyway, my opinion is *yes*, I think she'll make it. But as you know, it can take a while between the last two molts so you'll be hand feeding for a while. Quite a commitment, but it's your call.



Rick said:


> I doubt I will be hand feeding her all my life since hopefully I outlast her.


Yeah, hopefully you will.


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## asdsdf (Mar 25, 2008)

Rick said:


> Yeah I know and I have thought about all of that. She can hold the food so I am not going to snip anything off. I am just going to wait and see kind of as an experiment. I doubt I will be hand feeding her all my life since hopefully I outlast her.


Ooh, oops, "misstype".  I hope so too...(kinda)  

In honest opinion, I was kinda surprised my self...


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 25, 2008)

Mine always molted fine, but never regained the use of the limbs.


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## pedro92 (Mar 26, 2008)

wow sad story

keep me updated on how the molt goes


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## pedro92 (Mar 26, 2008)

wow sad story

keep me updated on how the molt goes


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## Morpheus uk (Mar 26, 2008)

Oh feed it to another manis as ive seen so many times on here before :lol: 

I reckon she`ll get caught in her skin and die :blink:


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## nympho (Mar 26, 2008)

cant mantids catch and feed with one front leg. if so i'd get the scissors out


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## Rick (Mar 26, 2008)

nympho said:


> cant mantids catch and feed with one front leg. if so i'd get the scissors out


Yes but both legs are messed up here.


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## Birdfly (Mar 29, 2008)

I'd say she should moult out of that easily enough, i've had worse make it through to perfect adults.

There is never a need to cut off any piece of a mantis, they can do that for themselves if need be, if its that bad then you might want to consider the fridge and freezer.

She can be hand fed for a stadium easily enough and if she can hold her food even better, she dosent appear to have any nasty creases in the affected legs so she should be back to normal after one moult.

The back/walking legs are ok so she should be able to perch &amp; moult ok.


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## Rick (Mar 31, 2008)

She didn't make it. Found her in a crumpled mess at the bottom last night. She was still alive and looks like she came out fine except for that one front leg that was bent. That leg was still encased in the old skin. She is a fighter but cannot live like this. She is bent in half right at the middle.


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## OGIGA (Apr 4, 2008)

Aww, sorry about the mantis. I think I can picture the position that she's in from your description.


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