# Exploded mantis



## OGIGA (Oct 24, 2007)

So in my front yard, I found a mantis stuck in some shrubs. That wasn't the only thing wrong with it. Sorry to gross you guys out, but here are the pictures of her.

I think she exploded but I don't know if a parasite caused this or what.


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## Andrew (Oct 24, 2007)

It looks like it was attacked by a bird or stepped on or something. :blink:


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## bubforever (Oct 24, 2007)

Looks like a parasite could have done that... though the bird and foot theory of Andrew are fairly plausable as well.

Time to call...






the myth of the exploding mantis


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## OGIGA (Oct 24, 2007)

I know it wasn't stepped on because of where I found it. A bird attack should have shown missing parts because I know a bird would love to eat it. I think maybe she may have fallen from a tree and the thorns slashed her open. Maybe she was just too fat and exploded?

Anyway, I thought of putting her in the freezer, but I don't think I want this too close to food...


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 24, 2007)

Tsk...Tsk. What an awful sight, and just after I've eaten to much din din :lol: . Sorry


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## echostatic (Oct 25, 2007)

put it in a plastic baggie and then put it in the freezer. or cut its head off with scissors or something, if its still alive... itd be better than dying from that.


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## OGIGA (Oct 25, 2007)

I think I'll leave her out there. It's nature anyway. She'll still be alive without her head. She just can't see and can't eat, which is probably even more suffering.


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## Rick (Oct 25, 2007)

That mantis was attacked by something or stepped on/crushed.


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## Orin (Oct 25, 2007)

How about putting back in what you can and taping the side? If she doesn't die anyway it would make it easier to care for her since her food wouldn't be chewing on her innards. A bird goes for the head and a shoe would cause more damage, I'd say a thorn mishap.


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## king_frog (Nov 2, 2007)

eeeew :mellow: . That's all i can say really.


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## Kruszakus (Nov 2, 2007)

bubforever said:


> Looks like a parasite could have done that... though the bird and foot theory of Andrew are fairly plausable as well.Time to call...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hahahaha! That's a good'n! :lol:


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## Malnra (Nov 2, 2007)

With that damage I dont think i would feed it to yours, nor do i think i would keep it .. probably best to put it under a wooden board and jump on it .. quick squish = no pain ..... but hey .. maybe you can save her if you realllllllyyyyy want to.


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## Sparky (Nov 8, 2007)

Geoff_K said:


> probably best to put it under a wooden board and jump on it .. quick squish = no pain


WHAT THE heck!? why would...nevermind, I'm not even going to say anything else... *sigh*


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## asdsdf (Nov 8, 2007)

LOL!!! Wow. I guess it's just another way to kill it without it feeling it. &lt;_&lt;


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## nhaverland413 (Nov 8, 2007)

OGIGA said:


> I think I'll leave her out there. It's nature anyway. She'll still be alive without her head. She just can't see and can't eat, which is probably even more suffering.


Ahh, am I missing something? Do mantids not have brains in their heads? brains that, when severed from the body stop functioning? 0 brain function w/ no life support=dead in my book... ( I understand males can continue to mate without a head, but, I had always understood that to be just the nerves quivering. )

then again, I could be wrong, I'm no expert in mantis anatomy.


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## Sparky (Nov 8, 2007)

asdsdf said:


> LOL!!! Wow. I guess it's just another way to kill it without it feeling it. &lt;_&lt;


That's so.... "inhumane" though


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## Malnra (Nov 8, 2007)

Sparky said:


> That's so.... "inhumane" though


instant death over slow potentially painful death ? gimme the quick way anytime.


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## Sparky (Nov 8, 2007)

Nevermind, I don't think you get what I'm trying to say. I'm not going to try to argue, I'm not going to let my beliefs get in your way.


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## Mantida (Nov 8, 2007)

Bugs have more primitive systems then we do, so yes, cutting off their heads will leave them still alive for several minutes to several months depending on what bug you're talking about.

Have you noticed how crickets always struggle, even if they are half eaten by a mantis? They have primitive minds. The only thing they think is to eat, survive, breed. No bug wants to die, they would probably rather a slow death then a forced one. They want to live no matter what happens to them, it's just the way that the natural bug instinct works. At least, in my opinion that is the way it works. And in nature, there isn't a 'quick-and-painless' way of dying for a crippled mantis.


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## nhaverland413 (Nov 9, 2007)

mantida said:


> Bugs have more primitive systems then we do, so yes, cutting off their heads will leave them still alive for several minutes to several months depending on what bug you're talking about.Have you noticed how crickets always struggle, even if they are half eaten by a mantis? They have primitive minds. The only thing they think is to eat, survive, breed. No bug wants to die, they would probably rather a slow death then a forced one. They want to live no matter what happens to them, it's just the way that the natural bug instinct works. At least, in my opinion that is the way it works. And in nature, there isn't a 'quick-and-painless' way of dying for a crippled mantis.


Yes, I have noticed how most insects react this way. But I had always been taught that, though though the lil guy was still moving didn't mean he was alive, it was merely the deaththrows.


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## asdsdf (Nov 9, 2007)

nhaverland413 said:


> Yes, I have noticed how most insects react this way. But I had always been taught that, though though the lil guy was still moving didn't mean he was alive, it was merely the deaththrows.


Humans twitch sometimes when they receive a quick death. :blink:


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## Sparky (Nov 10, 2007)

mantida said:


> Bugs have more primitive systems then we do, so yes, cutting off their heads will leave them still alive for several minutes to several months depending on what bug you're talking about.Have you noticed how crickets always struggle, even if they are half eaten by a mantis? They have primitive minds. The only thing they think is to eat, survive, breed. No bug wants to die, they would probably rather a slow death then a forced one. They want to live no matter what happens to them, it's just the way that the natural bug instinct works. At least, in my opinion that is the way it works. And in nature, there isn't a 'quick-and-painless' way of dying for a crippled mantis.


My point exactly.



nhaverland413 said:


> Yes, I have noticed how most insects react this way. But I had always been taught that, though though the lil guy was still moving didn't mean he was alive, it was merely the deaththrows.


But what about the cockroach?


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## Mantida (Nov 11, 2007)

Sparky said:


> But what about the cockroach?


Sparky's right, they can live for months without their heads and they only die of starvation and thirst, not because of the actual injury (crushed head). And mantids are related to cockroaches.


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## Mantis Keeper (Nov 28, 2007)

Sorry if this is an old topic, but I figured I'd add something. Insects basically have only a brain stem, which controls basic functions like breathing and instincual stuff, little memory. They still have signals that travel through their body from their "control center". If you look closer at the crickets you feed your mantids you will notice after the head and such is eaten, the cricket only "moves" while the mantis is chewing near the center of the body, if the mandables on the mantis stop moving, so does the movement of the cricket. The moving legs is only a response to the activity of their "nerves" as the mantis chews. The reason cockroaches can live so long after losing a head is that they have two control centers, and thus can still use all their basic bodily functions, it's just that without a head, they can no longer eat or drink.


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## OGIGA (Nov 29, 2007)

If I majored in entomology or something related, I can probably give a better answer. But based on my AP Biology class in high school, insects have a nerve network known as the ganglia. I don't know about the brain stem thing. Anyone educated in this field want to help us?


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## Morpheus uk (Jan 10, 2008)

Lol Mythbusters is a great program,

The guts look a little weird thought dont they? i mean if shes been eating insects wouldnt it be like yellowy white?

Id say bircking is far quicker and better than freezing a mantis, a diying mantis in a fridge is freezing, then starts to die where as a bricking mantis is sat there then *KABOOM*

Woops sry for posting on such an old thread


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## asdsdf (Jan 10, 2008)

For humans, freezing is a somewhat okay death. You're first freezing ur @## off and then during your lasts moments, you go into euphoria. I don't think mantises experience the euphoria part, but just getting slower slower....gone. Lol, squishing may be the fastest death and possibly painless.

An explosion may work too.


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## Matthewtinnion (Jan 11, 2008)

An Explosion!!!

I will have to remember that, Im sure if I warn the mantids of an explosive soloution to their problems they will be less than willing to fall ill.  

This message will self distruct in 3..2..1...(BOOM)


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## Mantida (Jan 11, 2008)

asdsdf said:


> For humans, freezing is a somewhat okay death. You're first freezing ur @## off and then during your lasts moments, you go into euphoria. I don't think mantises experience the euphoria part, but just getting slower slower....gone. Lol, squishing may be the fastest death and possibly painless.An explosion may work too.


If you squish a bug, the guts will still be alive. I fed my mantis a bee recently, and the leg was ripped off. Later, like 20 minutes, I picked up the parts of the bee, and the leg actually moved while it was in the palm of my hand. :blink: 

Freezer shuts down the mantid's metabolism, so it actually dies within 5-10 minutes. If you squish one, it'll take 30+ or more for it to actually die while it is suffering.


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## asdsdf (Jan 11, 2008)

mantida said:


> If you squish a bug, the guts will still be alive. I fed my mantis a bee recently, and the leg was ripped off. Later, like 20 minutes, I picked up the parts of the bee, and the leg actually moved while it was in the palm of my hand. :blink: Freezer shuts down the mantid's metabolism, so it actually dies within 5-10 minutes. If you squish one, it'll take 30+ or more for it to actually die while it is suffering.


Hmmm....Then burn burn away. 5-10 mins??? :blink:


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## Moosashi (Jan 11, 2008)

if you squish it entirely, like into tiny pieces, it still will be suffering? what of the nervous system could be left to feel?


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## Mantida (Jan 11, 2008)

Moosashi said:


> if you squish it entirely, like into tiny pieces, it still will be suffering? what of the nervous system could be left to feel?


Why would you squish a mantis to that extremity? :mellow: 

They wouldn't feel anything, if they do feel pain. But don't you think that's cruel? Also, yes, probably still would be alive, though what I think is not necessarily true. The guts may be dead by then.

And burning might be quicker than freezing, though I'm not sure how the mantis would like that. XD :lol:


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