Already made my first mistake

[Zuzu]

Welp, I was bound to make a mistake at some point, but I didn't think it would be this soon.

My hierodula venosa molted last night, but I didn't notice when I went to feed it a few minutes ago. I take my mantises out of their deli cups and place them into a much smaller container for easy feeding. Had I known my nymph was freshly molted, I definitely would not have touched them. But I did. It wasn't until saw my mantis behaving strangely and noticed the molt in the cup that I instantly realized my mistake.

Is there a chance of surviving if he can make it until he hardens? He isn't moving much, if at all, and it kind of just half laying where I placed him back in the cup on the fake flowers. I feel terrible, he had a perfectly successful molt and I have probably killed him due to being careless and not paying proper attention.

 

[izbiggs]

I would say maybe try to gently coax him onto something he can hang upside down on, but be very gentle and if you don't think you can he'll dry like that. My very first time getting a mantis ever I took one of the nymphs out of the cup and it fell onto my hand because I thought it was dead. Turned out, it was molting, and it molted right on my palm. I gently set my mantis down, sure it was dead, but it successfully hardened and survived and is still alive!

If you don't see anything wrong with him, there's probably nothing wrong with him. There's the possibility of internal injury, but it seems doubtful if you're a gentle mantis handler. If his legs are bent, that is far from fatal, they'll get corrected in the next molt. I wish you the best of luck. I hope your mantis pulls through

 

[Zeppy44]

Guess this is the case with a lot of us.  I learn slow, interrupted molts 3 times. But that was with 8 mantis. After 4 months I started to panic less, I guess.

Sure didn't like the feeling when I realized what I had done, again.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

If he was already hanging on the lid by himself then chances are he will be alright. While it is not ideal to fiddle with them directly after shedding, usually they will be fine as long as they have gotten to the stage where they have fully removed themselves from the skin.

 

[Teamonger]

I accidentally handled a fresh adult (Stupid me thought he was just a really cool pale coloration) and he seems no worse for wear for it so give your guy some time and see how he looks.

 

[Zuzu]

Hours passed and things were not looking good. He couldn't really move and one of his raptors was mangled looking. After seeing him twitch in attempts to move, I made the decision to put him in the freezer last night. Didn't want to see the little guy suffer any longer. 

He was fully removed from the skin, but he must have been pretty fresh out when I went to get him. 

Feels pretty bad that I caused him to die so young. All I can do is learn from this experience and not repeat my mistakes.

 

[crabbypatty]

@Zuzu it happens. I've accidentally misted mine while it was molting, thankfully nothing happened but I was freaking out. I've picked up a cup too while one was molting but thankfully it stayed stuck to the lid. Now I double check before touching. Accidents happen, and all we can do is learn from them.

 

[Zeppy44]

We learn by doing. Often we learn most from out mistakes. Seems to work that way for me. Learn and move on with new knowledge.

 

[Ocelotbren]

I made a mistake on day 2 and was just lucky that my mantis was able to survive.  It was hanging from the side of the enclosure and I tried to get it to crawl onto a spoon to handle it and it fell to the bottom of the enclosure, although not a long fall.  But from there it seemed to barely be able to walk and was almost dragging itself to the back wall of the terrarium.  I was brand new and didn't really know what was going on or if it had been injured during the fall, but we soon had to leave the house for a while so I let it do its thing.  When we got back, it was hanging from the back wall, not far from the ground, and had freshly molted, at which point I realized I had probably interrupted it or prevented it from fully preparing.  My only guess is that the fall had caused the skin to split open, or perhaps it had just started to open when I tried to handle it.  I realized my mistake and have been extra cautious since!

 

[Zeppy44]

Yeppers. Hard to not feel a bit slow when you realize what you just did. Thankfully done with molts for a while, all adult now. But I did manage to interrupt 3 molts along the way. Now if they just didn't turn their heads and look up at me, their passing would be easier for me I think.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Yeppers. Hard to not feel a bit slow when you realize what you just did. Thankfully done with molts for a while, all adult now. But I did manage to interrupt 3 molts along the way. Now if they just didn't turn their heads and look up at me, their passing would be easier for me I think.

I think you said it in another thread, but the emotional toll is worse than expected.  Now that I just experienced a mismolt for the first time, I know what you mean.