Mantis weird molt

I named all my mantis to have a better control over them, to check how much they eat, how big they grow, how fast they molt, and so far the numbrs are going good. just today I had an anormous problem. Kendra ( yes after a Hugh Hefners ex lol, I also got a Holly and a Bridget) started molting around... noon im guessing; because I moist their homes at around 1 pm and she looked seemed o be half way; and she was STILL trying to come out, her claws and her back legs were stucked... I ve been lookin at her for almost 2 hours now and well... her claws are still covered up with the old skin and the lower half part of her legs is also still stucked... The poor babe doesnt even have a normal shape... she is hanging from the top but she looks like a U her back looks like... Quasimodo´s ( yes the Notre Dame one) and she looks incredibly tired and kinda give me the feeling she didnt want to fight anymore.

Im noone to decide to freeze here or try to help her way out, I still gave her some mist, that helped the nymphs coming out from the ooth and a friend tld me it was like lub for them in these situations...

Im not going to keep my hopes up because she really REALLY looks tired and she is about to die. super skinny and barely moves ( she moved way more along the day.

Im going to bed now and I really hope I find her just as big as her siblings.

Too bad for her... She will not make it. This type of problem will not become better.

The humidity was a bit too low when she started to molt I think.

If they don't get out of the old skin quickly they dry in that position.

I had a P. chlorophaea who suffered a similar mismolt... if fact I named her Quasimodo (this was before it became apparent she was a female). There were several times I thought about putting her in the freezer, but she ended up molting to adult very well except for a ruffling of her wings. You can see pics and read about my progress with her here (link is to several entries in my blog in which I write about her).

Just thought I'd let you know it's not always hopeless. But if your mantis is still stuck in the old skin, there may not be much you can do.

Here she is shortly after mismolting:



And here she is as an adult:

Poor thing, you really should disbatch her quickly. She will just waste away slowly in her current state. Don't get discouraged, this happens to the best of us from time to time. You should try and raise the humidity up a bit to lessen the chances for future mismoults. As Rick stated, once there skin hardens they will remain that way. No amount of misting will help her now.

Oh I tried misting her cup a few times along the day... nothing helped... I just got back home and Im afraid of looking at her cup

Oh Kat yours isnt even that defectuous... mine looks like her back was practivly broke in 2, I was wrong when I said it looked like an "U" it looked more like a "V"

If she's that bad, the freezer might be the best thing... unless you have another mantis who might accept her as food.

Katnapper said:

If she's that bad, the freezer might be the best thing... unless you have another mantis who might accept her as food.

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Alot of newbies get all torn up over a mantis like this and then you go and suggest doing that? I do the same thing or feed it to one of my reptiles. My uromastyx loves a mantis snack.

Rick said:

Alot of newbies get all torn up over a mantis like this and then you go and suggest doing that? I do the same thing or feed it to one of my reptiles. My uromastyx loves a mantis snack.

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You're right... my bad! Just looking at the practical side of the matter, but forgot she might be upset.

Rick said:

Alot of newbies get all torn up over a mantis like this and then you go and suggest doing that? I do the same thing or feed it to one of my reptiles. My uromastyx loves a mantis snack.

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Good for you, Rick! Tell her off! We need more sensitive guys like you on this forum!

[smiley of Sensitive Guy with machine gun]

Oops! U forgot to add, Ming Ming, that these things only make you sad, and when they are that badly deformed, I think that it's best to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

Yeah u guys are right, I mean I know it sounds mmm insensitive but I ve already did :S Not with this one... well, not like this but I had 6 pairs of lineolas together and ended up having only 6 lineolas left from those and one L2 decapitated by a tiny L1... prolly she just took advantage when it was molting and ate her head :S so anyways, I guess Ill just have to find a big one that looks "hungry and feed her with the sick one...