# Molt issues lost part of an arm



## Chimpy666 (Nov 3, 2005)

Petal my sheild has just molted for the 4 time and one of her catching arms is a stump the gripping part of one of her arms has not molted with her.....is that a problem or will it re appear next molt and can she feed as usual with only one arm.

OLLY


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## Rick (Nov 3, 2005)

Should be fine. It will take at least a few molts for it to grow back.


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## Chimpy666 (Nov 3, 2005)

so how will that affect her feeding, will i have to take the crickets heads off and put it to her face i have dont that with millie my other mantis....

she looks like she needs a prosthetic limb  heeeheee

i felt really bad when i first saw.....i thought i would have to put her down


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## Jwonni (Nov 3, 2005)

if its only one i would imagine she will still be able to look after herself

i have heard that they can end up with one food item in one arm and another in the other so she should be able to catch and hold with one mine sometimes holds with one and lets go with the other to reposition it or bat the cricket over the head

maybe she wont have quite as much strength in her hold so no really big crickets for her but i beleive she will be able to hunt and eat by herself

and if you watch her and she cant as you said you have nursed one before feeding by hand so i'm sure she'll end up fine


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## Rick (Nov 3, 2005)

They lose them in the wild too. I have seen one armed mantids catch food just fine. Feed her and see if she catches it.


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## Chimpy666 (Nov 4, 2005)

I let her harden up for 24 hours and put smaller circkets in her and moved her to a bigger tank, could that be a cause of a bad molt, she could have been stressed?..i am going to check on her when i return from uni.


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## ibanez_freak (Nov 4, 2005)

Hi,

well one of my p.w's has a funny limb that it can ue to hunt but still catches and eats food with its other arm. should be fine but maybe watch it when it is eating.

Cheers, Cameron.


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## Chimpy666 (Nov 8, 2005)

She has not eaten in a week of the molt, normal for her but if it does come to it how would I nurse a nymph to eat.....she sketches out or tries to climb on me as much as I adore her climbing all over me, I really want her to eat somthing :s


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## Lukony (Apr 14, 2006)

Ya, one of my mantids just got hurt eating and I think got one of its claws pretty much destroyed. He seems to be nursing it and has trouble walking but I imagine it will come back the next molt.


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## 13ollox (May 29, 2006)

i just tried taking some pictures of my mantis on its lid and me forgetting theres a handle on top that is affected by gravity , it just got one of its front armed slammed on . now its like skewerd a few degrees to the side and its claw it perminantly open . L5 i think so was just wondering is this a thing that will take care of itself ( i.e. fall off , eaten off , shed off then grow back ) or will it be perminant ? i felt really bad when it happend !  

Neil


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