7 days from moult adult ghost dying

[Jdalt002]

Hi everyone,

My female adult ghost has been doing well up until this point. She moulted perfectly exactly 7 days ago and has been eating house flies and black soldier flies since. She is in a good sized mesh enclosure about 9 inches by one foot, and the room humidity is at 40-70, with the temp at 72-78.

Yesterday she was acting wierd and her raptorials were slightly open while she was hanging. She also was hanging "backwards" aka her head was higher up with her abdomen hanging down. Today I noticed she was not even holding on with her back legs and only her front two plus her claws. I took her stick out and she is so weak she can barely walk, and can only hang. She kind of presses her body flat to the ground and is nearly dead. She never fell or had any complications so I am very confused. Her enclosure was cleaned every 2-4 days and she was misted twice a day to drink. 

Does anyone have any idea what could have caused this? She has no visible signs of an infection, and ate some raw unfiltered honey three days ago. It's very upsetting to see her suddenly passing right after she hit her final moult and got her wings. I have one other ghost and would like to avoid this happening to her as well. If anyone has had any similar experiences please let me know, because I am having trouble finding information of mantis passing right after a healthy final moult where they ate and dried. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

 What have you been feeding her?

- MantisGirl13

 

[Jdalt002]

Unfortunately, she just passed away and stopped all movement. I have been feeding her house flies which I've ordered from Josh's frogs, and black soldier flies which hatched from larve. Within the week she was defecating fine and did not throw up at all. I check her entire cage and she pooped yesterday as well. There are no signs of illness or mold or infection or even sick feeders, because the flies were newly hatched within a few days before feeding her. She also ate honey water today but barely could move her mouth parts. 

I'm guessing it's some sort of genetic or internal problem that she has, but am still very confused and have nothing to go off of. 

 

[Mantis Lady]

Sorry for your loss

 

[Jdalt002]

Sorry for your loss

Thank you, she was loved. If you or anyone else has ever had similar symptoms of sudden weakness and loss of leg function during early adulthood, please let me know so that I can try to narrow down the causes and avoid this for my other ghost girl. 

 

[MrGhostMantis]

That’s what happens when the mantis falls on its back and is stuck there for a period of time. They lose all leg function.

 

[Jdalt002]

That's good to know, but I've never seen her fall and she definitely never has been near the bottom of her container since her moult, but I'll keep that in mind for future mantids who are moulting. She had full function of everything and was hunting three days ago and moved around outside her enclosure. For reference she moulted into an adult 7 days ago. She was even able to jump from my hand to her enclosure. Suddenly yesterday, or nearly two days ago now, she slowly got weaker and lost all function. 

 

[MrGhostMantis]

No, not while molting - in general. It happened to my female ghost. She just got stuck on her back when I wasn’t around and wasted away.

 

[Jdalt002]

No, not while molting - in general. It happened to my female ghost. She just got stuck on her back when I wasn’t around and wasted away.

Oh no, that's not good to hear, I'm sorry that happened. My ghost may have had the same problem and I didn't notice, but I don't believe that is the problem she had. She was hanging on the entire past two days, and the bottom is coushined with a paper towel. However, it is still a possibility because I am not watching them while I'm asleep of course, thanks for bringing it up.

She was more weak all over and it started in her back legs with her not being able to get a good grip, then got worse overnight. She passed away while hanging from a stick with her raptorials and forelegs. She never really stopped hanging on the stick until she passed, which at least must have been comfortable for her. She also was very limp and soft when she passed, not rigid and stiff like I was expecting, or like she usually is. She had fully hardened from her moult as well.