Signs of a molt

How do you know if your mantis is about to molt? Besides the not eating.

King_Frog said:

How do you know if your mantis is about to molt? Besides the not eating.

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if its sub adult the wing buds with swell right up.it will head to the top of the tank before it sheds.most of the time u will miss it shed..it happens so fast i normally miss it and i have over 60 mantids.they normally do it at nightime.

Thanksm, mine is subadult now.

Everyone says mine is pre-subadult but it looks 3x smaller than King Frog's. Will it grow that much in one shed? Also, mine is a larger species!

(Last thing, King Frog, ur mantis is a monster, it started nibbling on my finger!)

But mine is female, your's is male. Could be a big difference.

Not really, only about 1cm length difference, but yours is only about 1cm longer, maybe it is because female's have a wider abdomen. I wanted a big mantis, I wish he was a she...

lol if ya want a monster mantis, put in some spider DNA...... lol jk

but seriously if you want a female place a topic in mantids for sale/wanted. ther you will find something mostly small nymphs or ooths.

blitzmantis said:

Not really, only about 1cm length difference, but yours is only about 1cm longer, maybe it is because female's have a wider abdomen. I wanted a big mantis, I wish he was a she...

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the female is alot bigger than the male.

aww MAN! That's very annoying... <_< i'm so gonna get a female giant asian, then i'll be happy

This is a typical pose right before molting

My mantis is just like that right now

In that case, my mantis is most likely molting.

Just checked up on it, it seemed to be squirming and shaking. I'll leave it alone

Well with my Chinese Mantises I usually know more by how they are acting then eating. Many of mine will still eat even the day of their shedding though some of them will skip the day before. One big thing I will notice is that their abdomen's will be pulsating and they will be fixed upside down to the wall/ceiling of their cage. I also notice many will become sluggish around that time, though occasionally I'll get one who will run a mini marathon around its cage right before settling into position to rip its skin off. Finally it seems the majority of mine prefer to shed at night/early morning when it is still dark.

I've been to see King Frog's mantis and it seems to be molting. The wings have swolen and it is in the molting position. It won't eat and won't move.

blitzmantis said:

I've been to see King Frog's mantis and it seems to be molting. The wings have swolen and it is in the molting position. It won't eat and won't move.

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ok good../spray the flooing make sure humdmierty is at an ok level..then leave it..u dont want to disturb it during sheding.

It successfully molted to adult :lol: