Bad Luck With Mantis's

[Twitch]

Well after my first mantis needed an amputation I found another free roaming one outside (chinese).

This guy was a lot bigger and he just had his first molt today. After the molt his left arm doesn't seem to unfold after the last joint that would be under his chin. I hope that makes sense, but the 'grabbing' area of his arm where he would hold his prey won't open. He seems to flex it a bit but so far it hasn't opened. He just molted this afternoon though.

Is this something that might fix itself?

Kurt

 

[The_Asa]

I've never experienced this before. How do you know that his arm is stuck shut?

 

[Twitch]

I've never experienced this before. How do you know that his arm is stuck shut?

Well I guess I don't 'know' it's stuck shut but it sure seems like it is. He seems to reach with that arm trying to climb like he's expecting it to unfold only it won't unfold and I can kind of see him flexing it a bit as if trying to open it.

Kurt

 

[idolomantis]

never even heard of that before..

 

[The_Asa]

Can you see any dead skin still attached to the mantids arm?

 

[Twitch]

Can you see any dead skin still attached to the mantids arm?

I looked but I didn't see any, since he was still so new after moulting I didn't want to take him out to really look that carefully. I guess I'll let him be for tonight and try and look tomorrow more closely. The arm appears to be fine other than it doesn't seem to open.

Kurt

 

[idolomantis]

maybe it needs time. my arm is stuck sometimes and after a while it opens again. but i,m a complete diffrent weird creature ofcourse

 

[The_Asa]

A good way to test (tomorrow) is to send in some food and see how he reacts and if he can catch it.

 

[Twitch]

I was just looking at him again and I think something is for sure not right, you know when a mantis is just hanging there he has his arms up in a 'praying' position the claw part is relaxed slightly, not real tightly closed, well his right arm is like that but his left arm that doesn't seem to open is closed very tightly so there is no real gap between to two sides of the claw.

I looked at the shedded skin and it had the arms in a relaxed position and both the arms on the shedded skin seem to be intact so I'm not sure if it could still be a piece of old skin holding it closed or not.

Kurt

 

[Rick]

Don't worry. I go through spells with mantids where it seems nothing goes right.

 

[Twitch]

I had a chance to check out my mantis more today. He was able to unstick his arm over night but a couple more times today it got stuck again. It's like when he tightly folds up his arms it somehow gets stuck and he can't open it again. Once he got it unstuck again by himself but the other time I helped him out with a toothpick.

It's probably not going to impact his lifestyle all that much, I think he'll be able to catch his food still (he didn't seem interested in eating today). I guess we all have our problems.

In other news this is the first molt where I can clearly see his wings starting to form. How close is he to being an adult?

Thanks for all your help,

Kurt

 

[The_Asa]

He is either pre sub or sub adult.

 

[collinchang635]

It would probably molt one or two more times. BTW try handfeeding your mantid and see if it will catch the prey.