# mantis scoliosis??



## summerland

i have a mantis that hatched may 21 or a day or two after... it has a dramatic curvature of it's spine, is uncoordinated, has trouble catching prey, but seems to eat okay with undersized food items... i can manage a pic if necessary... but has anyone had this occur? Can it molt out of this awkward stage? :?


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## dino

Hello Summerland,

Yes it can and it usually molts out this akward stage the mantis is in. Just keep a close eye on him and make sure he is eating well. Just dont give up on the mantis.  

PS: please a picture would be helpful so I can see the condition the mantis is in. :wink: Good luck with your mantis Summerland and I hope it makes it to its next molt.


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## Rick

Let us see a pic. It is possible it has no hope. If it is really deformed it likely won't be able to molt.


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## dino

Hello Rick,

Never give up or have a doubt on a mantis Rick


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## summerland

Here is an image.. he is eating good once he is able to catch prey.. is this a genetic issue or did something happen to him during a molt? ( his last molt was prior to my seperating all of them) thanks for encouragement!


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## Rick

Interesting. If he can at least stay alive he looks like he may make it.


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## dino

lets keep our fingers crossed eh? :wink:


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## summerland

:? Well this mantis did very well.. regained some of his fine motor skills, even developed his own method of hunch-backed hunting. --It fattened up very well and went into it's next molt.....

Where it died a horrible death... I haven't ever seen such a thing! :shock: Apparently, I'ts head couldn't emerge from the skin and jammed up the whole process... he was a twisted mangled mess.. I have chosen NOT to post the results... LOL. If I ever encounter this phenomenon again i doubt i will cater to it... thus ends the saga.


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## ibanez_freak

hi,

well lately my H.grandis did that it had a bad moult and couldn't hunt so had to hand feed it then moulted again with mworking claws but a squint back. But It shed another time lately and it is in top condition and hunts fantastically again. I kept the humidity up a little more than usual to make sure that the mantis could shed ok and not get "stuck".

hope that helps and crossing my fingers for your mantis,

Cameron.


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## summerland

i keep the humidity at a proper level.. all my other mantids molt fine... i think that the way his head was tucked kept it from emerging... anyway i thank you for your kind words and concern... still i wonder.. has anyone else seen this?


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## Rick

> i keep the humidity at a proper level.. all my other mantids molt fine... i think that the way his head was tucked kept it from emerging... anyway i thank you for your kind words and concern... still i wonder.. has anyone else seen this?


I've seen similar issues with some of mine. I rarely have molting problems but when it happens it's usually bad.


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## Peekaboo

I had a Chinese mantid, that I fondly referred to as Gimpy, because the poor little thing lost half of one of his arms during an L2 molt. After two molts, and a lot of babying and hand feeding, the rest of his arm grew back. He's about half the size of his brothers and sisters, but that's to be expected since I wasn't able to get him to chow down as much as his siblings. He's become my favorite though.


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## ibanez_freak

yeah, I find it's very satisfying to be abl to bring themantis back to good health, the effort of hand feeding etc is worth the while.

good luck with him again  .

cheers, cameron.


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