back leg mismoult

[infinity]

I'm wondering if anyone has had any success with 'assisting' mismoulted mantids to their next moult?

Simply, a friend of mine has a sphod and his family were really interested in it and in 'meddling' they turned the enclosure on its side, restricting the space available to hang and moult properly. Now he's pissed because they meddled, they're pissed because 'he didn't tell them' (I know, the excuses people use in defence!) and the mantid is pissed because it now has TWO deformed back legs and a wonky middle leg.

So... I know it requires the back legs to hang/ moult properly...

But has anyone ever tried fixing them to a twig or something similar so they although restricted in movement, at least they are stationary and can be hung from during the moult?

Anyone have any success with this sort of thing?

And no, freezing is not an option! - I want to try!!!

p.s. where's Ian? - does he still frequent this place?

 

[sinensispsyched]

Was it a final molt?

My chinese mantis had a mismolt from L5 to L6, and his legs were bent, too. When his skin was still drying, I gently pushed the leg back from its more deformed posture towards its less deformed posture. Now, its leg is likely going to be fixed in the final molt.

Good luck,

Keegan

 

[infinity]

No, still probably 3 moults left - it's about 2ish inches now... so it DOES have moults left to use, it's just not easily able to hang - it hangs from its front two legs and the third middle one if it does and can't catch good easily as those legs are required to keep it upright.

And what are you doing awake? - it's 8am on a saturday?

 

[sinensispsyched]

I am an early bird. I can never even sleep in until 8.

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

heres a great story. My gongy was molting to sub adult and hit its head on a stick, and continued to try. This caused its neck to bend like a U. So when it was soft and out of the old skin, i straitened its neck and surprisingly it worked!! Just a little story to show how you can fix molts lol. (what i did is probably not recommended and risky).

 

[lancaster1313]

With a few molts to go, you still have a chance to have a perfect appearing mantis.

How long has it been since the last molt? Sometimes just hanging for a couple of days, can straighten legs, if they are not completely hardened.

Meddling can make things worse, if the mantis struggles and becomes stressed.

I have a mantis who lost half a rear leg, had the other rear one bent back, and one of the center legs was also bent back. He also had a bent foreleg. Now he appears perfect except he has a slightly shortened rear leg. I left him alone except for a little help with feeding that he didn't need as he caught prey just fine on his own.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

My suggestion would be to provide it with an easy to cling to screen cage, a nice dose of humidity, and some privacy to let it do its own thing when it is time to shed. Mantises are pretty good at solving their own problems if you provide them with the right environment to do so.