What in the world happened?!

OGIGA · Mar 2, 2007

What in the world happened to my mantis?!

It was fine a few hours ago. I just checked it and it was on the bottom. One of its legs broke off and the abdomen looks completely messed up. It looks like the abdomen exploded without the skin breaking. I don't know if those white strands of things are worms, but they don't move when I poke it. Maybe they're some kind of vessels or intestines. I just want to know what could have happened to the poor thing.

Here are the pictures:

Oh, yesterday, I fed it a little bit of fly juice... umm, I poked a hole in a fly pupae with a toothpick and it ate a bit of the juices inside. It didn't eat very much of it.

Rick · Mar 2, 2007

I've said it before and I will say it again, sometimes they just die. It's happened to all of us at one point or another.

robo mantis · Mar 2, 2007

That is what mine looked like when they exploded.

ABbuggin · Mar 2, 2007

I dot kkow what happened to your mantis but the white lines are beathing tubes. You can see them hanging out of a matid's shed skin.

AB

wuwu · Mar 2, 2007

i've had this happen a few times before. i'm not 100% sure but i think it was trying to shed but the skin never slit open. so the new bigger body is suffocated in the smaller, older skin, causing it to die.

jplelito · Mar 3, 2007

Your dead mantid began the process of ecdysis (molting), but failed to complete it for some reason - humidity, falling, disturbance by a prey item, etc.

The white scrunchy tubes seen on its sides are the tracheal system of the insect (how it breathes) that began to pull out of the old cuticle (the outside 'exoskeleton' of the mantid), but the mantid never managed to free itself completely. It may have fallen, or it may have had some other defect not obvious externally. Sometimes messed up hormones and things can be responsible for this, and since its chemistry... you would have no idea your mantid was not quite right (as compared to obvious things like, say, a missing leg).

You can also see the molting process in that the wing buds of this nymph are all swollen and raised up - the poor little thing was definitely in the beginning of a molt when he/she died.

It is sad but it is good - the ones that are not perfect at molting don't get to pass on their bad genes to the next batch of your pets

OGIGA · Mar 3, 2007

Your dead mantid began the process of ecdysis (molting), but failed to complete it for some reason - humidity, falling, disturbance by a prey item, etc. The white scrunchy tubes seen on its sides are the tracheal system of the insect (how it breathes) that began to pull out of the old cuticle (the outside 'exoskeleton' of the mantid), but the mantid never managed to free itself completely. It may have fallen, or it may have had some other defect not obvious externally. Sometimes messed up hormones and things can be responsible for this, and since its chemistry... you would have no idea your mantid was not quite right (as compared to obvious things like, say, a missing leg).

You can also see the molting process in that the wing buds of this nymph are all swollen and raised up - the poor little thing was definitely in the beginning of a molt when he/she died.

It is sad but it is good - the ones that are not perfect at molting don't get to pass on their bad genes to the next batch of your pets

Oh I see. That was pretty helpful. I keep the humidity pretty high so I don't know if it was a little too humid. Maybe it just fell. Oh well. Life goes on.

Ian · Mar 3, 2007

Oh well. Life goes on.

Not for the mantis ^_^

Sorry to hear about that...but interest photo and follow up there.

OGIGA · Mar 5, 2007

Sad. Yet another mantis had to be frozen after an unsuccessful molt.

OGIGA · Mar 6, 2007

And another. Now I have two mantises left.

robo mantis · Mar 6, 2007

dude

that stinks. so are they all dieing the same way?? maybe we can help.

OGIGA · Mar 6, 2007

They're dying due to molting. Last night, one didn't make it out of its old skin. When I came home today, one fell while molting. It was already having problems stabilizing itself though so I didn't expect it to make it.

robo mantis · Mar 6, 2007

I too had a molting problem but my mantis is pulling through

OGIGA · Mar 6, 2007

That's nice. I just got back from class and it looks like my last L4 is molting to L5. I don't know how long it has been like that, but everything seems to be out except for 1/3 of each of its 4 legs.

OGIGA · Mar 6, 2007

It's been long enough now for me to know that there's a problem. I don't know what I can do with this one. (it didn't molt like this, I just somehow got it into this position)

One front leg is already broken and the two rear legs don't look so good. If it makes it, it's going to have just one leg and two arms.

OGIGA · Mar 6, 2007

With lots of care, I managed to help get one leg out, the bent one.

robo mantis · Mar 6, 2007

I think i know your problem. I think the humidity is to low. you may have to amputat that back leg. but first does the mantis go on like nothing is wrong? or does it struggle to walk with that leg? if it has a hard time clip the leg. but give it a few days to see if the legs grows in properly.

OGIGA · Mar 6, 2007

Okay, it was an extremely rough operation, but I got the other leg out. It's straight, but doesn't seem exactly functional. Hope it'll work properly when it dries.

Peekaboo · Mar 6, 2007

What apparatus is your mantis molting from? And what are the humidty levels?

What in the world happened?!

Help Support Mantidforum:

Dead Leaf Mantis

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Dead Leaf Mantis

Well-known member

Dead Leaf Mantis

Dead Leaf Mantis

Well-known member

Dead Leaf Mantis

Well-known member

Dead Leaf Mantis

Dead Leaf Mantis

Dead Leaf Mantis

Well-known member

Dead Leaf Mantis

Well-known member

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!