# mantis over feeding



## dakota (Apr 20, 2005)

can i accedently over feed my mantis or will it stop eating on it's own? also my oldest mantis is a stagmomantis carolina at L4 and it has 5 segments on it's abdomen.


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## Jesse (Apr 20, 2005)

Nymphs of most species can't be overfed, they just stop eating and molt to the next stage. Some adult females can be overfed, such as P. agrionina, especially if they are infertile. An overfed female can't move about normally and is in danger of injury such as a burst abdomen if it falls.


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## dakota (Apr 20, 2005)

so it is a female? her abdomen can burst?!?! :shock: . what do i do then can it get to wher she can not empty her stumic?


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## Steve (Apr 20, 2005)

I have noticed that on occasion a mantid can over eat when the final prey item is rather large. What I mean is that somtimes a mantids eyes may be bigger than its stomach. If a mantis is almost full, it may capture something that is rather large. They don't always drop what's left over if they become full in the middle of the meal, instead opting to finish the whole thing. But usually if prey items are small, it's not really an issue. I've seen mantids eat until they looked like they were ready to pop and many of those candidates ended up on my mysterious deaths list. Has anyone else noticed this as well?


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## Jesse (Apr 20, 2005)

An overfed mantid may die from either having its gut lining/membrane rupture and/or because its internal osmotic balance becomes incorrect causing "system failure". Either of these may appear as "mysterious deaths" because you can't see what happened to the inside of the mantid.


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## dakota (Apr 20, 2005)

ok but can she still empty her gut? cause it is very big and she is an L4


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## Rick (Apr 20, 2005)

Just don't feed it for a few days and it will be fine.


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## Steve (Apr 20, 2005)

> An overfed mantid may die from either having its gut lining/membrane rupture and/or because its internal osmotic balance becomes incorrect causing "system failure". Either of these may appear as "mysterious deaths" because you can't see what happened to the inside of the mantid.


When you refer to a problem with osmoregulation, do you think that these deaths can be linked to an inability to properly regulate water in the body as a result of an over-filled gut? Or do you feel that an over-filled gut is somehow preventing proper excretion of excess water and metobolic wastes?


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## Jesse (Apr 20, 2005)

Steve, I'm not really sure which, I could guess, but its not going to mean anything. I'm sure the busted gut is more likely to happen than the failed osmoregulation, because insect membranes(as well as most animal) are darn good at controlling osmosis.


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