Orchid arm infection + photo's

My Orchid Female after she molted to sub adult she would not eat for a week then i noticed that she would not catch the flies i put in the enclosure and handfeed her some crickets because squashing them they are softer and biggerto eat .

Before i only give flys and wild cought honey from morokko to give them strenght and minerals.

When i hand fed her i saw that she had a black spot on her cathing arm and could not open this one after a day the black spot was growing and she hanged on 2 legs one morning hand fed her more but the next day(yesturday) she was dead. Everytime my animals molt i clean there enclosures with Dettol an desinfectant i realy dont know what whent wrong

Somebody has experience with this case and maybe can tell me what is wrong i have a virus or fungus so i can do something before all my baby's die apreciate it much if somebody can help me!

Sub sub adult nothing wrong here





Sub sub adult some days before the molt still nothing wrong turning pink





a week after her being sub adult







Then yesturday sadly she was dead when i woke up



Even sadder when i take the time to handfeed her she could not take or hold prey and was sucking for an half hour on the cricket or fly wile holding both in my hand getting cramps in my hands and all but its al for nothing.

Taking care for an animal likes this makes me even more sad becaus the time you put in her to get better makes you get more attached to her but....

Maybe your Mantis did not clean its raptorial legs properly...

Mantis clean their Legs and bodies to prevent fungus after devouring its prey...

Or maybe the food that you gave her contains virus or fungus...???

It happens to all of us at one point or another. Nobody knows exactly what causes that though.

Rick said:

It happens to all of us at one point or another. Nobody knows exactly what causes that though.

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Verry sad do

hope one day we have better knowledge and precure this from happening.

thanx for quick responds

B regards Dave

Merry xmas to everybody

you're orchid is another victim of "it"...

i had it too, it starts with a tiny black dot but in days the mantis or phasmid dies.

Sorry for your loss, she such a pretty girl..

It just happens...sorry

idolomantis said:

you're orchid is another victim of "it"...i had it too, it starts with a tiny black dot but in days the mantis or phasmid dies.

Sorry for your loss, she such a pretty girl..

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-Asa said:

It just happens...sorry

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Yes it seems like its bad luck for me too but at least i have some nice pictures to remember my first lady.

regards Dave

Very beautiful mantid. Very sorry for your loss.

thanx for your compassion guys!!

I'm still loocking for what it can be. what i did wrong maybe it happened because there were fly's in the enclosure when she was molting and i'm sure they were walking on her when she just came out ,maybe the weak skin was not protected against bacteria the flie may have got that is a possibility but can be annything

Also i put her in a new enclosure before that i cleaned it with dettol i have heard dettol isnt good to desinfect? Better is steaming the terra's is this true?

I just use anti-bacterial soap and a lot of water. I wash then out 2 to 3 times a week. That may be a little excesive but I'd rather them be in a clean environment. But I'm new to all this, so I could be wrong.

I have an adult female purple-winged mantis who has a similar problem. Chucked a very large and aggressive katydid in her cage a couple of weeks ago and it bit her on her raptorial arm. She lost the use of her arm instantly (but caught and ate that sucker!) and a black lump has formed over it. Im wondering if i should amputate? It doesnt seem to be spreading though. Might just be callus?

superfreak said:

I have an adult female purple-winged mantis who has a similar problem. Chucked a very large and aggressive katydid in her cage a couple of weeks ago and it bit her on her raptorial arm. She lost the use of her arm instantly (but caught and ate that sucker!) and a black lump has formed over it. Im wondering if i should amputate? It doesnt seem to be spreading though. Might just be callus?

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Sounds like a scab. I would leave it alone.

superfreak said:

I have an adult female purple-winged mantis who has a similar problem. Chucked a very large and aggressive katydid in her cage a couple of weeks ago and it bit her on her raptorial arm. She lost the use of her arm instantly (but caught and ate that sucker!) and a black lump has formed over it. Im wondering if i should amputate? It doesnt seem to be spreading though. Might just be callus?

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Not uncommon for an injured mantis to have a black spot at the site of the injury. Like someone else said it is like a scab. Leave it be. What do you think they do when this happens in the wild? They know what to do.

they chew off the infected limb usually, dont they?

too bad the orchid didnt

superfreak said:

they chew off the infected limb usually, dont they?too bad the orchid didnt

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Welcome back, SF! If they do chew off an unsalvageable limb and yours hasn't done so, don't you think that might mean that she wants to hang on to it?

Also, your tag line says that you are looking for Aussies to trade with. A new Australian, James, has just joined the forum. Maybe he will want to trade.