# normal mantis dropping color?



## BugLover (Jun 4, 2013)

my first mantis (RIP Mindy) was wild caught. She was fed pet store crickets, and I fed them to her as I had them. A week or so before she died, I noticed her droppings looked like mold (light blue, fuzzy). Is that normal? Could it have been from the crickets?


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## dgerndt (Jun 5, 2013)

That's not normal. Healthy mantis poo should be dark brown, and in little pellets. Did you make sure to feed the crickets healthy food for a few days before feeding them to your mantis? You are what you eat! Crickets from pet stores are usually dehydrated and starving, as they don't feed them. So they eat the dead bodies of the other crickets, and get filled with bacteria.


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## BugLover (Jun 5, 2013)

no I didn't sadly :/ I didn't know you were supposed to do that when I got her, I hadn't joined this forum yet. Thanks!


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## Ranitomeya (Jun 5, 2013)

Droppings can grow mold fairly quickly in humid and poorly ventilated enclosures.


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## BugLover (Jun 6, 2013)

Ranitomeya said:


> Droppings can grow mold fairly quickly in humid and poorly ventilated enclosures.


I didn't find moldy droppings in her enclosure, I was holding her and she had to go...  

But she was in a tank with a screen lid, could that have made her droppings get moldy inside her??


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## ScienceGirl (Jun 6, 2013)

The whole thing is very strange... I've never heard of this before, or experienced it. But, here's Dr. ScienceGirl's recommendation.  

Feed a bit of honey several times a day for several weeks.

Honey has a moisture content of below 17%, and, as such, is acidic. This is why honey is antibacterial.


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## BugLover (Jun 7, 2013)

ScienceGirl said:


> The whole thing is very strange... I've never heard of this before, or experienced it. But, here's Dr. ScienceGirl's recommendation.
> 
> Feed a bit of honey several times a day for several weeks.
> 
> Honey has a moisture content of below 17%, and, as such, is acidic. This is why honey is antibacterial.


Thanks! This is one of my previous mantids. She passed before I joined this forum, but I was curious


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## ScienceGirl (Jun 7, 2013)

BugLover said:


> Thanks! This is one of my previous mantids. She passed before I joined this forum, but I was curious


Oh, okay.  

Has anything like this happened since?


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## BugLover (Jun 7, 2013)

ScienceGirl said:


> Oh, okay.
> 
> Has anything like this happened since?


Nope, hasn't happened again. When I had her, I was over feeding and using un-quarantined crickets. Now that I know what I'm doing it's been going better


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