# Mantis twitching and dying(?) after feeding



## Kris02 (Jun 29, 2019)

I was trying to expand my l5 ghost mantis' diet and I fed her a small mealworm with its head crushed. For a couple minutes she ate her full when all of a sudden she threw the worm away and stretched her arms out then just fell face forward. She wasn't moving and the only reason I could tell she was still alive was because her abdomen would occasionally wiggle.

She did that for about 30 minutes and so I just put her back in her enclosure since I thought she might just need a little time to rest and she just hung there upside down like she normally does. I could see her mouth moving and her body move a tiny bit so I thought she was fine

I came back to her an hour later and she was hanging upside by a single leg and all her other limbs were dangling and twitching. I moved her to a small humid cup with tissue paper just in case she fell or needed some time to recover.

Came back one hour later and she had fallen a couple inches and is laying on her side twitching. Up until she ate the work she was totally fine. Humidity and temperature seemed great and she had molted well about two or three weeks ago.

This is my first mantis and I have no idea what I did wrong.

These pics were taken less than a minute apart


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## Kris02 (Jun 29, 2019)

Here she is right now


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## hysteresis (Jun 29, 2019)

No idea. Sorry.


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## hysteresis (Jun 29, 2019)

Nothing in that meal worm could cause this though, afaik. 

Something else mustve been going on. 

Keep us updated.


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## Kris02 (Jun 29, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> Nothing in that meal worm could cause this though, afaik.
> 
> Something else mustve been going on.
> 
> Keep us updated.


It had been a little while since she had a full meal since she's pretty picky, could her having such a big meal so quickly have killed her? I'm really at a loss


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 29, 2019)

The first and second pics are normal, the third is worrying. She very possibly could be playing dead, startled by a sudden move you made while feeding. Leave her be and see how she is in an hour or two.

- MantisGirl13


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## Kris02 (Jun 29, 2019)

MantisGirl13 said:


> The first and second pics are normal, the third is worrying. She very possibly could be playing dead, startled by a sudden move you made while feeding. Leave her be and see how she is in an hour or two.
> 
> - MantisGirl13


Hopefully. I did just notice that on the tissue paper there are little dark stains in the spots where she's been lying down. Not sure if that is from her or her meal. I guess all I can do right now is hope she gets better. Thanks


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 29, 2019)

Kris02 said:


> Hopefully. I did just notice that on the tissue paper there are little dark stains in the spots where she's been lying down. Not sure if that is from her or her meal. I guess all I can do right now is hope she gets better. Thanks


Ok. If she overate, then she could have puked up some of the extra, but if it is blackish brown in color and smells bad, then it's an infection. It could also be moist poop.

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 30, 2019)

How is she doing now?


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## MantisGirl13 (Jun 30, 2019)

Ya, how is she?

- MantisGirl13


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