Black spots

TeaTree · Aug 25, 2022

Hey all,

Sadly my adult giant Asian mantis has developed black spots in his eyes (aside from the “pupils”). One morning about 2 days ago he was just constantly moving side to side rubbing his whole face against the terrarium… I instantly tried to calmly move him away, I imagined that couldn’t be good. It was sadly too late cause today those black spots showed up(something else and coincidence?) it’s worse on the left eye. I don’t think there’s anything I can do for him? just wonder why he was acting this way. He’s still catching his prey impressively but it’s obvious his reaction time and vision from certain angles are weak. I hope it doesn’t get worse.. hardest part is not knowing how painful(?) or bothering it is for him, I can’t imagine he feels good

Is there anything that could’ve been done to avoid all of this? Is glass sides maybe not a good option for praying mantis? He never did that before. Thanks for reading.

TheWolven · Aug 25, 2022

Is your container not big enough for him? That could possibly be it. I wouldn't recommend keeping a mantis in a glass container though because it's not the easiest for them to grip.

If it makes you feel better, even when my male H.venosa was small enough for his deli cup, he still liked to bang his head on it.

Dimity · Aug 25, 2022

Mine would sometimes do that when looking to attack the mantis in the next cup. I just put a slip of paper in between and that stopped it.

TheWolven · Aug 26, 2022

Dimity said:
Mine would sometimes do that when looking to attack the mantis in the next cup. I just put a slip of paper in between and that stopped it.

Did you have any that just really liked to bang their face on stuff? That's Poppy. He's a special kind of stupid.