# Moulting problem



## goneleocrazy (Nov 2, 2005)

Right not sure if this is actually a health issue but I have had my wandering violins since the EHS show at the beginning of october and they havent moulted yet!!

They are eating really well on fruit flies and are kept on a heat mat with occasional misting to up the humidity a little as I thought maybe this was the reason they are not moulting but it doesnt seem to be making any difference.

Not exactly sure how old they are but I would say they are only aorund L3-L4 at most, even if they were that old as possible only L2 but havent yet moulted to L3

Anyone got any ideas??

Cheers

Carl


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## Jesse (Nov 2, 2005)

I wouldn't worry as long as they are feeding and acting normal, when they are ready they will molt. Some mantids take awhile to grow.


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## ibanez_freak (Nov 2, 2005)

Don't worry, I got a couple of gongys from a show at oct 1st and they still havnt shed. Is this show at a similar time?

Cheers, Cameron.


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## goneleocrazy (Nov 2, 2005)

was the one down at kempton park race course and was on the first so probably the same show??


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## Samzo (Nov 2, 2005)

lol Same show yes, you guys bought of MF right?


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## Joe (Nov 2, 2005)

i wouldnt be so worried as i've had many mantids have the same ever lasting molting period and onetime, all of my mantids periods between molts were taking 2-3 months and more. My last subadult violin mantis hasnt molted for 7 months and i dont know if it has molted to adult yet since it got sold. violin mantids seem to have the capability to live a long time since my adult violin mantis has been living for 2 years and shows no signs of laying an ooth as when i feed it, it gets fat, then its belly gets thin when hungry again. so i suspect this mantis live for another 1-2 years or even more! this causes mantids to live much longer than usual. A guy that worked at the arizona desert museum accomplished something even farther, he did experiments with mantids and stick insects and got mantids to live over 6 years and growing more than 25 cm by simply canceling out their breeding process or somewhat. i dont know how but i'm trying to track him down to ask him how he did it lol.

Joe


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## Samzo (Nov 2, 2005)

> live over 6 years and growing more than 25 cm Joe


Whoah, do you know sp? I wanna try this lol


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## Jesse (Nov 2, 2005)

> A guy that worked at the arizona desert museum accomplished something even farther, he did experiments with mantids and stick insects and got mantids to live over 6 years and growing more than 25 cm by simply canceling out their breeding process or somewhat. i dont know how but i'm trying to track him down to ask him how he did it lol. Joe


I would love to see the citation for this, i'm not necessarily doubting your accuracy, I am just generally interested in reading this information myself. Let me/us find out when you track him down.


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## Joe (Nov 2, 2005)

lol the guy only used native mantids like chinese or european mantids, he found someway to make them live very long and grow very big. some how, whem he did his experiment, the mantids continued to molt more than usual, causing them to keep on growin and growing.

Joe


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