# Ghost Problem



## Ghost Mantis (Mar 21, 2013)

Recently, I have 6 Ghost Mantises. I put each of them in individual clear plastic cups, no decoration, paper towel as substrate. I change the substrate every other day. Humidity always be around 80-90%; daily, I mist 2 times a day . I always open the cups couple times a day for proper ventilation, the lids of the cups are pinned though. Temperature is approximately 75-82 F in the morning, and 65-68 F at night. Their diet is mainly fruit flies from L1-L4. 3 of my Ghost mantises molted to L4 two weeks ago. They are very healthy, active and turning into green color. 3 others molted to L4 about a week ago. However, they only live for few days after molting and start dying for no reasons. After molting, I always wait for at least 24 hours and then feed them fruit flies. I also use the same culture of fruit flies to feed other mantises, including limbatas, cryptics, and 3 other healthy ghosts. I feed them every other day. The point is three of my unlucky Ghosts are not death at the same time, so I don't think my fruit flies culture have problem The first one died a week ago, the second one died on Fridays last week. The third one just died today in the morning. There are no signs of infection. They are still active, healthy and look great the night before they die. I wonder how 3 of my ghost mantises die in a proper condition? Is that because of my fruit flies culture? or Is that just ordinary in Insect World?


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## Paradoxica (Mar 21, 2013)

I would guess that they need more ventilation than pin holes in the lid. Put a mesh too on there.

A while back I had 2 communal ghosts enclosures, one had very little ventilation and most of the ghosts turned green (possibly a side effect of higher humidity) but I also had many mysterious deaths in that container. I can't say for sure, but I believe that poor ventilation killed many in that batch.


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## Ghost Mantis (Mar 21, 2013)

Paradoxica said:


> I would guess that they need more ventilation than pin holes in the lid. Put a mesh too on there.
> 
> A while back I had 2 communal ghosts enclosures, one had very little ventilation and most of the ghosts turned green (possibly a side effect of higher humidity) but I also had many mysterious deaths in that container. I can't say for sure, but I believe that poor ventilation killed many in that batch.


I have meshes on the top of the lids for them to molt and climb probably  . One of my lobata (L4), and 3 crytic nymphs (L2) have mysterious death too, even though that plastic cup have well-established ventilation and proper humidity as well. They just acted normally and then lied on the ground in the early morning. I have no ideas  .


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## sally (Mar 21, 2013)

Any cleaning products used in the room or in a room close by? I am so sorry about your mantids


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## sally (Mar 21, 2013)

Oh, and not tap water right? Are you using distilled water? Tap water may have clorine and floride.


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 21, 2013)

I have to agree with more ventalitation, also get rid of the towell, could have a chemical in it that releases a vapor when wet, prob not, but it is not needed, rinse the cup out if it is dirty with hot water, and the steam from it will be good for the mantis. I do not think the fllies are the problem, but they are also to little to feed to 3rd instar, get house flies, either from chuck or my stable flies.


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## Ghost Mantis (Mar 21, 2013)

sally said:


> Oh, and not tap water right? Are you using distilled water? Tap water may have clorine and floride.


No chemical cleaning product nearby. I use boiled water as well :wacko:


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## Ghost Mantis (Mar 21, 2013)

hibiscusmile said:


> I have to agree with more ventalitation, also get rid of the towell, could have a chemical in it that releases a vapor when wet, prob not, but it is not needed, rinse the cup out if it is dirty with hot water, and the steam from it will be good for the mantis. I do not think the fllies are the problem, but they are also to little to feed to 3rd instar, get house flies, either from chuck or my stable flies.


I have to agree with you about getting rid of paper towel. I just remember that they day before he died, I changed new paper towel for him :blink: . I have flies which are bought from you, but I don't want to waste those little fruit flies  ....


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## Paradoxica (Mar 21, 2013)

Ghost Mantis said:


> No chemical cleaning product nearby. I use boiled water as well :wacko:


I don't think boiling it will help remove the chemical additives in tap water, boiling is to kill anything living in the water.


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## Paradoxica (Mar 21, 2013)

Now that I look up Distillation, I'm pretty sure that boiling would concentrate the chemicals we would want to remove.


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## Tony C (Mar 21, 2013)

Paradoxica said:


> I don't think boiling it will help remove the chemical additives in tap water, boiling is to kill anything living in the water.


Boiling will drive off dissolved gases such as chlorine, but it will also serve to concentrate dissolved minerals and other solids.


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## Ghost Mantis (Mar 21, 2013)

Paradoxica said:


> I don't think boiling it will help remove the chemical additives in tap water, boiling is to kill anything living in the water.


Really? I thought It will evaporate these chemical as well :blink:


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## OregonMantis (Mar 26, 2013)

What you needed to be doing was catching the condensation and using that instead.


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## glock34girl (Mar 26, 2013)

Distilled water is quite cheap. 0.88 cents a gallon. One gallon has lasted me over two months.


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## twolfe (Mar 26, 2013)

I use paper towels in many of my enclosures except for my terrariums. I did once buy some cheap ones and had a massive die off that may or may not have been related. I stopped using that brand and haven't had a problem since then.

I've misted Orchids twice a day when they were smaller but haven't found it necessary to do so with Ghosts. The only other time I may mist any species more than once a day is when they are in net enclosures and are due to molt or if Yen told me to. I just use plain tap water. Otherwise, it would be too expensive. I fill a 32 ounce water bottle every other day.


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## Ghost Mantis (Mar 27, 2013)

Tammy Wolfe said:


> I use paper towels in many of my enclosures except for my terrariums. I did once buy some cheap ones and had a massive die off that may or may not have been related. I stopped using that brand and haven't had a problem since then.
> 
> I've misted Orchids twice a day when they were smaller but haven't found it necessary to do so with Ghosts. The only other time I may mist any species more than once a day is when they are in net enclosures and are due to molt or if Yen told me to. I just use plain tap water. Otherwise, it would be too expensive. I fill a 32 ounce water bottle every other day.


Thanks for your advice. The reason I mist my Ghosts twice a day is to see whether the high concentration of humidity can affect my Ghosts to turn green color. The result is quite expected; most of my female Ghosts turn green. However, I think boiling water is the main reason that killed my nymphs. The chemical contained in water evaporates and slowly kills my nymphs. Right now, I am more careful with water, and paper towel substrate as well. I also make better ventilation for their cups. Let's see how it works  .


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## twolfe (Mar 27, 2013)

Ghost Mantis said:


> The reason I mist my Ghosts twice a day is to see whether the high concentration of humidity can affect my Ghosts to turn green color. The result is quite expected; most of my female Ghosts turn green. However, I think boiling water is the main reason that killed my nymphs. The chemical contained in water evaporates and slowly kills my nymphs. Right now, I am more careful with water, and paper towel substrate as well. I also make better ventilation for their cups. Let's see how it works  .


Proper ventilation is good! 8/9 of my female Ghosts turned out to be green from my current stock. I raised them all in plastic this time and have used nets in the past. I've had some in the same net end up being a green/brown color and others be a vibrant green.


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## MantidBro (Mar 28, 2013)

What do you keep your mantids in? It depends a lot on ventilation like paradoxical said. Lack of oxygen can easily kill them especially if there's too much humidity and not enough ventilation.


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