b. Mendica trouble,

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TheArtisticArachnid

TheArtisticArachnid

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Hello to anyone who happens to come upon this and has any helpful information they may be able to share with me!

Recently, about a week ago, I noticed that my juvenile thistle mantis was acting strange. Maybe I'm looking too much into her body language, but she's been refusing food frequently and whereas she usually sits up straight, she's started kneeling closer to the lid. My speculations are that she's getting ready for a molt, so I've been trying to keep humidity levels at a happy medium. However, there are some other oddities that prove to be a bit concerning.

When she moves, her actions are usually jerky and very fast. She swivels her head side to side in quick repeated motion. Her two front appendages twitch as if she can't decide what to do with them. For whatever reason, she can't poop properly? It builds up at her abdomen, and I usually ease it off with a q-tip. On top of that, there seems to be a ring of black located at the base of her head that I haven't really noticed before?

If anything, I might try to move her into another enclosure. Should I try to put a sponge or something in there so she can get some humidity? Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. By all means, she's still mobile and can move around, she's just picked up some odd behavior.

Thank you in advance!

 
Make sure she has a lot of ventilation. Don't mist her very much the B mendicas like it warm and relatively dry. I keep mine under a heat lamp, at about 85 to 95 degrees f. Hopefully she will be ok.

 
Don't provide any humidity. It sounds like she has a gut problem. What are you feeding her?

 
gripen said:
Don't provide any humidity. It sounds like she has a gut problem. What are you feeding her?
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I've tried to keep her on a strict diet of house flies, however during the winter since fruit flies are too small for her to eat and house flies are harder to get ahold of I've had to resort to feeding crickets when the need becomes dire. If this is what's causing her gut problem, should I hold off on feeding her and give her water to see if that'll help flow through her digestive track? With the spring season rolling it it shouldn't be hard to find flies, what do you suggest?

 
Crickets could be the problem. I think it is most likely humidity that is the problem. They need very low humidity. While they like to drink water, a humid environment is bad.

 
gripen said:
Crickets could be the problem. I think it is most likely humidity that is the problem. They need very low humidity. While they like to drink water, a humid environment is bad.
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Alright. So, I'll keep her environment dry, feed her water occasionally, and monitor her behavior to see if she gets better?

 
gripen said:
Try that, yes.
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I cleaned out her enclosure and put new papertowel in without misting or spraying anything. I left her completely dry, with a little bit of water through an eyedropper. I came back from school today to find this. It seems the black substance around her "neck" has developed around her face, chin, and a bit on her two front appendages/arms from where she's tried to clean herself. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this, to be honest. I dabbed away at some of it with the q-tip shown, and this is what came out. My first thought was maybe bacterial infection, but when dabbed at with the qtip it comes off- implying its not coming out or is attached to the surface? She still struggles against the treatment and shoves it away whenever I try to get at her face, so she has the energy to deflect my attempts. This leads me to think that maybe its regurgitation or maybe vomit? If this is true, is it good that she's trying to get whatever's in her system out? These are just hunches, but I tried to clean it off to the best of my abilities. Any idea what it might be?

 
Keep her warm and dry. Let her drink some water if needed. I would avoid feeding her food for a day or two, to clean out her system. I've read that B. mendica's do not take well to crickets.

 
PlayingMantis said:
Keep her warm and dry. Let her drink some water if needed. I would avoid feeding her food for a day or two, to clean out her system. I've read that B. mendica's do not take well to crickets.
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Alright. She's in the warmest room in the house. I offered her water, but she didn't seem keen on it so I'm leaving her be. After consulting the caresheets I bookmarked and the information I'd written down, I regretfully say it was a poor decision on my part to feed her crickets. Humidity might also have been the problem. Thank you so much, keeping my fingers crossed.

 
Crickets...>_<

I feel like they lead to the black death eventually. Some will swear by them, maybe because they have a clean stock that they can manage. Colloidal silver solution has worked to clear the infection a few times for me. Goodluck

 
bobericc said:
Crickets...>_<

I feel like they lead to the black death eventually. Some will swear by them, maybe because they have a clean stock that they can manage. Colloidal silver solution has worked to clear the infection a few times for me. Goodluck
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Colloidal Silver? How would I use that? Please elaborate, I'm afraid I'm a bit confused by what you mean.

 
My female is sub adult and my male is pre sub. They have no problem taking D. hydei and crickets occasionaly, if you run out of HF or BBs. They do take a while to mature. I've noticed a slightly stressed, almost agitated behavior when they are premolt. Just make sure you have sticks and twigs attached to the top of their enclosure. I don't mist, I wet their paper towel substrate rarely.

 
I completely dried out her container and cleaned off what I could of the vomit. I left her alone, warm and dry, but came back from school to find her barely responsive at all. It seems as though she has a hard time moving, and they're very jerky movements to begin with. She's still alive, but I don't think she'll pull through. I've been feeding her water occasionally, and I tried to entice her with a fly to no avail. She's currently underneath a heating lamp in my room, and I go in occasionally to check on her and see how she's faring. Fingers are crossed, but it doesn't look good.

 

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