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Ok! I put the very tip of her abdomen under a soft stream of water and gently worked it off. She seems uninjured, although the feces she has produced since then have been waterlogged. Soggy girl. She'll dry out soon enough. Thanks, everyone, for your help!

No, the ootheca had hardened -- I was at my chem final. I have since hacked most of it off, but a cap remains on the end of her abdomen which will probably keep her from defecating. I've tried pulling moderately, but it's quite stuck...I'm afraid to yank on it because her reproductive bits...

So my female Chinese decided to lay her eggs horizontally rather than vertically as she lacks feet and apparently can't do the whole upside-down thing anymore and is now stuck in the ootheca...perhaps one centimeter of her abdomen is glued to it and won't come off. Anything I can do aside from...

*She had a drink and some crickets shortly after I posted this.

Thanks everyone! She seems worse, now one of her front claws is blackened and stuck. I would run a search, but (1) I think I already read about this and (2) she's sitting on my hand (and is 'licking' me just now -- not biting -- which is odd), which makes typing a chore.

She can no longer grip even the most lichen-encrusted branches, so she's sitting on my plants all day instead, which I have surrounded with ancient hoodies so she won't injure herself in falls (and so she can right herself when she does fall). Thanks for the tips, I only wish she could hang...

I have noticed my female Chinese will often move her mandibles as though chewing should a breeze pass through. She exhibits the same response if I blow or breathe on her. What is the purpose of these movements? Is she 'tasting' the air like a snake? Note: this gesture is frequently...

So my Chinese mantis I found two weeks ago is having some health troubles. She has broken two of her feet (which causes her to fall) and the tips of her wings are flaking off. I found a thread from 2005 that says that these are normal signs of aging. Is there anything I can do to slow this...

Regarding feeding chicken, I am under the impression that it is meant to simulate lizards/other small meaty vertebrates consumed in the wild. Whether or not this is wise, I haven't the foggiest. Hence mantidforum: the search for enlightenment! As to my major, while I would love to be an...

Thanks. Why, from a nutritional standpoint, ought mantids not to eat chicken, etc.?

Thursday last week I was making my way back from class when I saw a very large something clinging to the wall of my lecture hall, catching the sunlight. It turned out, of course, to be a (Chinese) mantis. It was a very cold morning, perhaps forty degrees, and I took pity upon her and installed...