# Feeding a Crippled Mantis



## Machinar94 (Mar 21, 2015)

My female Hierodula Majuscula went through her last moult into adulthood last week, and she became stuck which resulted in her being quite crippled and unable to catch prey herself. I've heard of people feeding their crippled mantids cat or dog food, so I have been feeding her wet dog food (lamb or beef) for the past week and she has been eating small amounts every morning and night. Last night, however, she vomited after her meal so I've stopped feeding her and given her some water every now and then to keep her hydrated. At the moment, she seems to be back to normal, but I am now unsure whether feeding her dog food is the right choice.

Does anyone have any tips or advice with dog food, or should I be choosing a different feeding option? She won't eat live insects which are still moving, which is a pain...


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## LAME (Mar 21, 2015)

Cut the head off the feeder and allow her to taste the goods  

Use tweetzers, theres also a method members have used a pushpin (thumbtack) modified to use for such mantids.

Ive never feed my mantids anything but insects or honey. But have heard people using all natural baby food. Personally id keep it eating insects as it was meant to do so.


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## Bloodtkr (Mar 21, 2015)

I agree hold a cricket or wax worm with tweezers let her eat.


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## Machinar94 (Mar 21, 2015)

Thanks for the advice guys, she's chowing down the crickets like crazy now!

Hopefully her vomiting doesn't come back though, and she should be fine


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## Bloodtkr (Mar 21, 2015)

Not too much at once or she will hurl again


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## idologrl (Mar 21, 2015)

I had a fusca that was crippled like that. I cut the head off of mealworms and even fed her live flies holding them to her mouth so she could eat, dipped them in honey and she lived for months with me doing that. Even laid an ooth. I have fed her chicken baby food ( with nothing in it but chicken and broth) but keeping it to bugs she did really well. I don't use tongs but i've heard that works good. My girl liked to sit in my hand and I'd hand feed her. I was sad when she died. She had so much personality..I modified a fishbreeder with lots of papertowel and she was a happy girl. Good luck with your baby, I know she will be special.


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## PlayingMantis (Mar 24, 2015)

I have to feed one of my special mantises for the rest of her life, and she is only pre-sub. Two molts ago, her head and raptorials were stuck in the old skin, and her body was bent 180 degrees. Normally this would've been a fatal mismolt. I figured I got nothing to lose, if I didn't do anything, she'd die for sure. I used tweezers to remove the skin from her head, the most difficult was removing the skin from her mandibles. I was unable to remove the old skin from her raptorials so they were completely useless. Her neck did straighten out and she miraculously regained use of her mandibles.

I had to hand-feed her with flies that have had their heads lopped off. Since she couldn't hold the flies with her arms, I either had to 1) hold the flies, ,or 2) stick the fly to the end of a pin and stick the other end of the pin in a wad of clay, to hold it in place.

She molted yesterday, and I was hoping she'd repair her arms, but nope...her arms are still completely useless. She still has the old skin from 2 molts ago. From the looks of it, I'll have to handfeed her for the rest of her life.


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## LAME (Mar 25, 2015)

PlayingMantis said:


> I have to feed one of my special mantises for the rest of her life, and she is only pre-sub. Two molts ago, her head and raptorials were stuck in the old skin, and her body was bent 180 degrees. Normally this would've been a fatal mismolt. I figured I got nothing to lose, if I didn't do anything, she'd die for sure. I used tweezers to remove the skin from her head, the most difficult was removing the skin from her mandibles. I was unable to remove the old skin from her raptorials so they were completely useless. Her neck did straighten out and she miraculously regained use of her mandibles.
> 
> I had to hand-feed her with flies that have had their heads lopped off. Since she couldn't hold the flies with her arms, I either had to 1) hold the flies, ,or 2) stick the fly to the end of a pin and stick the other end of the pin in a wad of clay, to hold it in place.
> 
> She molted yesterday, and I was hoping she'd repair her arms, but nope...her arms are still completely useless. She still has the old skin from 2 molts ago. From the looks of it, I'll have to handfeed her for the rest of her life.


This goes to show how far some of us will go to save a mantis we truly care for.


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## Machinar94 (Mar 26, 2015)

Thanks for the help everyone, it has been very useful!

idologrl and PlayingMantis, it's sad to hear of your mantids' misfortune, but it is really nice and inspiring that you are able to show that much dedication to your insect pets. I plan on looking after mine in the same way, as I've grown too attached to her to just let her die.

As an update, my female has stopped vomiting (which took about 5 days to get over), and she is happily eating grasshoppers covered in a little bit of honey. I really do hope she lives on to be mated with and lay healthy oothecae


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## jpusser510 (Mar 28, 2015)

Hi guys my devils flower mantis fell during his last molt while I was away at work. I came home to find him face down in his enclosure. His forearm raptorials are deformed (bent backwards). One of his legs appears to have also been damaged during the molt. I read all the previous posts and have had success with honey and force feeding crickets, even feeding him honey coated crickets. I used crickets because he refused to eat flies initially after the molting accident (what he normally eats) but after starting him off with honey I have gotten him to eat crickets and will move to moths/flies soon. I am hoping that I can keep him alive to his next molt and that after this molt his arms will restore and harden in the correct position. If you look at the photos you can see they are bent back and cannot even hold prey anymore. I read Playingmantis's posts about how the mantis arms did not restore after the molt but I was hoping to get more feedback from other people who have nursed a mantis with deformed arms to another molt and then observed if the arms restored or did not after the next molt. I took some photos on my phone to show the deformity. Any advice about this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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## Sticky (Mar 29, 2015)

The best story I know was the story about Little Heat. Rebecca had a little one, a chinese, whos arms were damaged somehow. She took good care of him. She put his food on a thum tack and stuck the feeders on it.


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## jpusser510 (Apr 6, 2015)

thanks for replying sticky i am hoping to get feedback from people on how likely it is that the forearms could restore after the next molt. Has anyone had a mantis with deformed arms restore after the next molt?


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## Sticky (Apr 8, 2015)

You're welcome, I have one little guy with a raptor that is bent up, totally worthless for holding prey. But, he gets around and holds his food with the other just fine. I am hoping he can molt ok.


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## MantidBro (Apr 8, 2015)

Ive had a few mantid that couldnt use their claws, recently actually. I take the guts from the prey and put it on their mouth. They can get a good grip on the guts if you do a little bit at a time. The stickyness of the guts helps too lol. It may take a moment to get them looking plump but its worth it! Good luck





Here was one whose arms didnt work. They get a pretty good grip on the guts. If the guts fall i just put em back on their mouth. Or give a smaller bit.


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## MantidBro (Apr 8, 2015)

jpusser510 said:


> Hi guys my devils flower mantis fell during his last molt while I was away at work. I came home to find him face down in his enclosure. His forearm raptorials are deformed (bent backwards). One of his legs appears to have also been damaged during the molt. I read all the previous posts and have had success with honey and force feeding crickets, even feeding him honey coated crickets. I used crickets because he refused to eat flies initially after the molting accident (what he normally eats) but after starting him off with honey I have gotten him to eat crickets and will move to moths/flies soon. I am hoping that I can keep him alive to his next molt and that after this molt his arms will restore and harden in the correct position. If you look at the photos you can see they are bent back and cannot even hold prey anymore. I read Playingmantis's posts about how the mantis arms did not restore after the molt but I was hoping to get more feedback from other people who have nursed a mantis with deformed arms to another molt and then observed if the arms restored or did not after the next molt. I took some photos on my phone to show the deformity. Any advice about this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


When the arms are deformed due to the exoskelton remaining stuck on them, its a bit different. Youre mantid is more likely to repair itself the next molt! Good luck!


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## PlayingMantis (Apr 13, 2015)

LAME said:


> This goes to show how far some of us will go to save a mantis we truly care for.


I will go to the ends of the earth to make sure my little one gets the most out of her life. Unfortunately because her arms were damaged in old exoskeleton and I have no idea what happened, a few days after, she chewed most of her arms off, leaving only nubs (to be more exact, she chewed off her tibia and tarsi, leaving only the coxa and femur). She is eating fine with handfeeding, and I'm hoping to see her molt to subadult soon!

This picture shows how she eats right now, inspired by someone who used a similar method with a thumbtack and clay. I could just handfeed with tweezers but sometimes my hands get tired!  

I cut a piece of superworm, fly, etc., and skewer it on the end of a toothpick. Then I stick the toothpick in a dry sponge (to hold it in place). In the beginning I was using Play-Doh clay, but it was either too soft and the toothpick would fall out, or it would just dry up and become a useless lump. With a dry sponge, I can pierce it a countless number of times with a toothpick.


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## PlayingMantis (Apr 13, 2015)

MantidBro said:


> When the arms are deformed due to the exoskelton remaining stuck on them, its a bit different. Youre mantid is more likely to repair itself the next molt! Good luck!


I agree! I've had mantids that had their raptorials bent outwards, or stuck in an unusable position. Within the next molt, the issue would be corrected.

However, having raptorials stuck in the old exoskeleton is more of an issue. Apparently it caused my mantis to lose both her arms. I don't know if others had better luck with raptorials stuck in old skin.


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## MantidBro (Apr 15, 2015)

PlayingMantis said:


> I will go to the ends of the earth to make sure my little one gets the most out of her life. Unfortunately because her arms were damaged in old exoskeleton and I have no idea what happened, a few days after, she chewed most of her arms off, leaving only nubs (to be more exact, she chewed off her tibia and tarsi, leaving only the coxa and femur). She is eating fine with handfeeding, and I'm hoping to see her molt to subadult soon!
> 
> This picture shows how she eats right now, inspired by someone who used a similar method with a thumbtack and clay. I could just handfeed with tweezers but sometimes my hands get tired!
> 
> I cut a piece of superworm, fly, etc., and skewer it on the end of a toothpick. Then I stick the toothpick in a dry sponge (to hold it in place). In the beginning I was using Play-Doh clay, but it was either too soft and the toothpick would fall out, or it would just dry up and become a useless lump. With a dry sponge, I can pierce it a countless number of times with a toothpick.


A great owner for sure!!


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## MantidBro (Apr 15, 2015)

PlayingMantis said:


> I agree! I've had mantids that had their raptorials bent outwards, or stuck in an unusable position. Within the next molt, the issue would be corrected.
> 
> However, having raptorials stuck in the old exoskeleton is more of an issue. Apparently it caused my mantis to lose both her arms. I don't know if others had better luck with raptorials stuck in old skin.


Its unfortunate! your girls arms will grow back though. They did for all three of mine. They just grow back tiny at first lol.


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## jpusser510 (Apr 18, 2015)

Thank you Mantidbro and Playingmantis for the encouraging advice. I am hopeful now that the raptorials may restore. I now have a container full of frozen moths that I defrost and feed him using a needle and cotton which works well. Here is a photo that shows this which is similar to Playingmantis method


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## jpusser510 (Apr 18, 2015)

Here it is


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## MantidBro (Apr 19, 2015)

jpusser510 said:


> Thank you Mantidbro and Playingmantis for the encouraging advice. I am hopeful now that the raptorials may restore. I now have a container full of frozen moths that I defrost and feed him using a needle and cotton which works well. Here is a photo that shows this which is similar to Playingmantis method


Youre welcome. And awesome! i put some of my prey items in the freezer too, makes em last longer.  great photo, im glad hes eating!


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