# Accidently crushed my mantid's leg, amputation?



## blitzmantis (Feb 12, 2008)

My mantis has been acting weird for the last couple of days. For about 4 days, it has not eaten, it's abdomen doesn't shrink and it will attempt to grab the food but sort of hits it. Anyway, this got really annoying so after I had once again tried feeding it, the mantis had it's left back leg on the edge of the lid and when I closed the lid, the 'foot' was crushed. It does not put the foot on the roof, it sort of hovers over the roof. It happened about 1:00pm today (UK). Should I amputate the limb? If so, how would I do it? Please help.


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## obregon562 (Feb 12, 2008)

it's probably about to shed, which explains all the "weirdness"...

I would not amputate anything on my mantis...with each shed the leg will heal a little...


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## Birdfly (Feb 12, 2008)

As above, but remove any food that might be in there and dont try to handle it or move the cage about until its done and hardened off, other wise you could kill it!!

Dont worry about the foot, accidents happen, never amputate any thing unless you are a surgeon, the mantis is probably better equiped to know if it needs removing and will do so itself.

As its only a foot she will just start to re-grow it, but not until the shed after this one as it is too close by the sounds of it


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## macro junkie (Feb 12, 2008)

just leave it and hope it sheds ok. :huh:


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## blitzmantis (Feb 12, 2008)

KK, thanks u guys. I guess I over-reacted... :lol:


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## Rob Byatt (Feb 12, 2008)

Oh no, not another snipping off legs topic :blink:  

Just leave it to do what it wants with the leg, just as Birdfly said.


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## OGIGA (May 12, 2008)

Snip the mantis in half!

jk... that would be cruel.


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## Rick (May 12, 2008)

I have done this before. Usually I just let it be.


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## Morpheus uk (May 13, 2008)

If it needs cutting off the bloody mantids do it them selves :lol:


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## Al&Nathan (May 14, 2008)

Birdfly said:


> As above, but remove any food that might be in there and dont try to handle it or move the cage about until its done and hardened off, other wise you could kill it!!Dont worry about the foot, accidents happen, never amputate any thing unless you are a surgeon, the mantis is probably better equiped to know if it needs removing and will do so itself.
> 
> As its only a foot she will just start to re-grow it, but not until the shed after this one as it is too close by the sounds of it


One question: Before the mantis molt, must you remove all feeders from the cage? What happen if you do have one or two fruit flies around, especially if we are dealing with L2 &amp; L3 nymphs?


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## Birdfly (May 14, 2008)

I wouldnt worry about a few fruit fly buzzing around, if it were crickets or large flies there is the danger that a fresh moulted or moulting mantis could be knocked to the floor and crippled or even killed an eaten by crickets


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## Malnra (May 14, 2008)

Amputate at the neck !!!!!


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## Al&Nathan (May 15, 2008)

Birdfly said:


> I wouldnt worry about a few fruit fly buzzing around, if it were crickets or large flies there is the danger that a fresh moulted or moulting mantis could be knocked to the floor and crippled or even killed an eaten by crickets


A follow up question: Would the presence of feeders take away the attention or delay the would be scheduled molting process? Since I load new fruit flies into the habitat either on daily basis or every other day, there are feeders present constantly.

Thanks,

Alan


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## Birdfly (May 15, 2008)

Alan Chien said:


> A follow up question: Would the presence of feeders take away the attention or delay the would be scheduled molting process? Since I load new fruit flies into the habitat either on daily basis or every other day, there are feeders present constantly.Thanks,
> 
> Alan


Hi, I would say no, the presants of feeders would not delay the mantids moult, if you have lots of small nymphs you can absorb the damage that can happen in heavily loaded vivs/housing, which is probably not nearly as much as the numbers lost from cannablism?

Later, as the mantid nymphs get older and are feeding on heavier flies and crickets (thats if you use crickets, i know some people do) the danger from knockdown-mismoults is greater as you will have less of this "hatch" of mantids and each individual will be more precious to you.

In summary its not a good idea to leave feeders in with a mantis of say 3rd instar up at moult time imo


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## Sparky (May 18, 2008)

Morpheus uk said:


> If it needs cutting off the bloody mantids do it them selves :lol:


It's true! My chinese had a bent leg and after a while I caught him biting it off.


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## MantidLord (May 20, 2008)

But...I lost a bunch of I. oratoria nymphs due to tape (don't ask why I used tape), and some of them were simple, like getting one leg stuck to the tape. They would just sit there and do nothing. one of them, I actually pulled his leg off :blink: and he died instantly. Another, I just wet my fingers, and kind of rubbed his leg (the part stuck) until he part came off. He's still aive (he's actually my only L4), and his leg is slowly returning. I wonder why the other nymphs didn't chew their legs off. of course, most of the mantids had vitals stuck to the tape: heads, abdomens, forearms, etc. But I removed all the tape, and so far only two unexplanable L1 deaths.


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