Acromantis Formosana Nymph crippled...

[blitzmantis]

I had just come back from a pet shop near my house with some fruit flies to feed my acromantis formosana nymphs and when i got in I saw one that looked dead. I prodded it a few times and saw no movement, then I foolishly prodded hard on the tiny nymph and then i saw movement, in fact it WAS fine, but when i prodded it hard I had crippled it's back and it just flops around helplessly. I think i should freezer it but just wanted to see what you all thought, thanks.

 

[macro junkie]

so u killed it by prodding it..u need to be more careful silly maybe just blow on it next time :lol:

if it cant stand up and walk its doomed..feed it to another mantis and be more careful in future

 

[mrblue]

oh dear <_< .

like mj said, blowing is a good alternative. another useful way to either get a mantids attention or get it to stop doing whatever its doing like grabbing/eating a sibling/potential mate for example, is to give it a spray of water.

ps - best to end its life however you see fit. a crippled leg would not be such a problem but a crippled back is pretty fatal.