# Ghost mantis not eating



## Joe (Aug 17, 2005)

Hey everyone! its been a while since i've posted because i had no issues what so ever lol. but a week ago one of my female ghosts molted to L4, and she wont eat after i fed her a large butterfly i found 3 days ago. shes starting to get hungry and wont eat nething i give to her, she doesnt even look at the prey passing by. whats this about? j/w i'm finnaly glad to come up with a topic again lol.

Joe


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## worldofmantis (Aug 17, 2005)

jeeze joe i cant think of anything. It cant be molting and it cant be laying ootheca for sure.3 days is a long time with no food living on a butterfly.try feeding her via tweezers or by hand put it up to her mouth and she will either grab it straight away or if you hold it a few cm away from her mouth she will nibble on it then she will finally grab it. Now alot of time if you hold on to the prey to much it just looks like her arms are flailing. let me know if this works out


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## Joe (Aug 17, 2005)

Hey,

Thanks for the info but i think i've tried that and everything i could think of it wont even drink!  its pretty strong still tho, it's able to run, and act leaf like lol

Joe


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## worldofmantis (Aug 17, 2005)

Actually i had this happen to my european mantis adult female. I fed it a butterfly after feeding it on nothing but crickets before and now it wont eat anything but butterflys try using butterflys again. If this dosent work come back and i will try something else for ya


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## Andrew (Aug 17, 2005)

What kind of butterfly was it?

Thanks,

Andrew


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## Joe (Aug 18, 2005)

the butterfly was a great basin woodnymph, i hope its not poisonous

Heres a pic of it

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/l...lyusa/wa/99.htm

Joe


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## Samzo (Aug 18, 2005)

It shouldned be poisonous because the caterpillars eat grass and thats the only place a butterfly can get any poison is throught what the caterpillar eats, i think. Try feeding a moth or another butterfly but really I dont have a clue whats up :?


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## PseudoDave (Aug 18, 2005)

Yeah, what samzo said. One other thing though, do you know of anyone who uses any kind of pesticide nearby?

Also, could it be she's a fussy cow? lol. My 'late' pw female would only eat flying bugs in the end, wouldnt touch anything without a wing flapping about.

Dave


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## yen_saw (Aug 18, 2005)

Joe, have you try to increase the humidity and try feed them with tweezer? Bring the juicy part of the food slowly towards its mouth.... it may work. If she doesn't want to eat, either she is sick or not hungry. Is the cage clean? is she still fat?

I would thought that the mantis will puke and die pretty soon if having something poisonous.


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## worldofmantis (Aug 18, 2005)

leah was right look at my two posts then look at yours


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