I have a 7th instar Chinese mantis which suffered a mismolt three days. I found her at the bottom of her cage, but she was almost completely out of her old skin and suffered minor damage to one of her legs. Other than her bum leg she looks completely fine. Her eyes are a different story. They look weird. It looks like she has small indentations inside both eyes. She ignores her food. Worms and moths, wiggle and fly past her and she doesn't pay any attention to them. This evening I tried giving her some wet cat food with a spoon, and she ate some of it. If she is indeed blind, (which I'm assuming she is)...would she be able to get her sight back at all, or would she depend on me to feed her for the rest of her life? Thanks. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Blind Mantis?
- Thread starter flyl03
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Maybe she just isn't that hungry yet...
Sneaky123
Well-known member
Te stuff I'm about to say will sound stupid, but should help you determine whether or not she's blind.
1. Get a light and flash it in her face for a split second. Hopefully she will notice it.
2. Get her mad by bonking her head with your finger. If she gets into a defensive position, move your finger around her without touching her antennae. If she doeasn't follow your finger, she's probably blind.
3. This is the part that sounds stupid. At some point of the day when she is undisturbed and there are no bugs in her enclosure, throw something small across the room very fast past her. If she can see, she will respond. Make sure not to hit her, you don't want a blind AND crippled mantis
I'm no optomologist, but here are the two things that could happen. Supposing you decide to keep her alive.
1. She will be blind the rest of her life. Sorry.
2. At the next molt, which being her last molt provides less chance of this, she gets partial to full sight. If she is lucky enough to get even partial sight she should be able to catch things on her own. No crickets though.
1. Get a light and flash it in her face for a split second. Hopefully she will notice it.
2. Get her mad by bonking her head with your finger. If she gets into a defensive position, move your finger around her without touching her antennae. If she doeasn't follow your finger, she's probably blind.
3. This is the part that sounds stupid. At some point of the day when she is undisturbed and there are no bugs in her enclosure, throw something small across the room very fast past her. If she can see, she will respond. Make sure not to hit her, you don't want a blind AND crippled mantis
I'm no optomologist, but here are the two things that could happen. Supposing you decide to keep her alive.
1. She will be blind the rest of her life. Sorry.
2. At the next molt, which being her last molt provides less chance of this, she gets partial to full sight. If she is lucky enough to get even partial sight she should be able to catch things on her own. No crickets though.
MantidDan
Well-known member
Just hand feed her from now on.
i recently had a chinese subadult, who suddenly became blind as well - no mismolt or fall. i tried to hand feed, but eventually she was less interested in food and died within about 2 weeks. she was a great hunter prior and super active. not sure what was going on, but clearly could not see..i noticed some black fluid in her enclosure and she started to become less and less active prior to passing away.
