Blister on eye?

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Gahri

Gahri

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Apr 29, 2015
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Hello

I'm pretty new with Insects as pets, so please bear with me ^^

It was spontaneous, when I asked my cousin, where I could buy a Mantid.

He got me a terrarium, a 5 month old mantid, humus and a fake plant.
I bought a second fake plant in the meanwhile.

I'm feeding it small crickets.

Now, while doing some photos, I noticed a green blister on one of the eyes.

Is it possible that my Mantis is blind there? And do I have to worry about it?

Truth to be told, I'm not sure whether she got that already when she arrived here.

I avoided taking her out, to not stress her further after she arrived here, and she was hiding pretty much.

But I saw her eating one of the crickets already.

I'm also not sure, what type she is exactly and if she's going to molt again?

Here are some shots

http://41.media.tumblr.com/acac7bc9c5d9385e356803ec174392fe/tumblr_nntk6rdido1sm0ukyo6_1280.jpg

http://41.media.tumblr.com/54c684d3c079e6389913445d4847607e/tumblr_nntk6rdido1sm0ukyo7_1280.jpg

http://41.media.tumblr.com/0048ebcb30e263e1afb57b61ed007395/tumblr_nntk6rdido1sm0ukyo1_1280.jpg

 
MantisMatt14
As I said, I'm fairly new into this, I just have her since about 4 days and never had any bug, or Mantis as such, before.
Experts don't fall from heavens, as they say ^^
And that's why I'm here.

 
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Alot of damage like that comes from them rubbing thier face against the side on thier container. They can see through it so they should be able to get through it. Right? I wouldnt worry about it too much, but you can hot glue some fake leaves and flowers on the inside to keep it from seeing out.

 
She could be either Hierodula or Sphodromantis. There are better judges than me on this forum, my guess is very basic.

 
The container is 30 x 30 in size. I see her often on the lid of the container (It's a grid lid.. Sorry english isn't my native language, but I'm trying ^^)

The container is from Exo Terra, and I read multiple different opinions on it.

My cousin brought it to me, so I have to work with what I have right now.

My cats often jump next to it to look inside, and while I take them off when I'm around, I can't entirely prevent them from looking inside

(although the box with the crickets seems more interesting to them... more moving insects inside)

Speaking of the cricket box,... I had it next to the container.

Guess the rubbing-face damage would make sense then. I'll put something in between, so she won't see them anymore ^^

By comparing the mentioned species, I think Sphodromantis fits more in, but I could be mistaken xD

But with 5 months of age, will she molt again, or is she adult already?

 
Hi there, mantids become adult when their wings are fully grown. At the moment, they are only buds and I would say her next molt might be into adulthood.

 
I would not advise crickets as a food source for mantids. Given the fact that they are bred in large numbers for feeders, the crickets could contain harmful viruses that can get mantids suck. What I am wondering is how did you get a mantis without knowing what species it is?

 
As MantisMatt14 mentioned, be careful when feeding crickets to your mantis. Depending on where you are, I would advise catching moths, flies or roaches if possible. If this is not an option for you, I've heard that you should keep crickets for up to a week while feeding them your own food to ensure they are healthier for your mantis (someone else may want to jump in if I'm wrong, as I've only fed mine on wild caught insects).

Also, make sure you spray your mantis enclosure once a day with water to keep humidity levels high so she can molt successfully.

Good luck with raising her :)

 
Machinar94 said:
As MantisMatt14 mentioned, be careful when feeding crickets to your mantis. Depending on where you are, I would advise catching moths, flies or roaches if possible. If this is not an option for you, I've heard that you should keep crickets for up to a week while feeding them your own food to ensure they are healthier for your mantis (someone else may want to jump in if I'm wrong, as I've only fed mine on wild caught insects).

Also, make sure you spray your mantis enclosure once a day with water to keep humidity levels high so she can molt successfully.

Good luck with raising her :)
Click to expand...
This is all very true but wild caught roaches are not promising as well. I strictly rely and trust moths and flies caught outside. Grasshoppers and wild crickets may be bad as well if they are saturated from the inside out with harmful pesticides. I have fed a wild red legged grasshopper to a shield mantis adult female and she died a week later from the chemicals that the grasshoppers must have ingested. There is always a risk when feeding tropical and Neotropical mantids wild caught food but moths are safest.

Also I might add that depending on the species of mantis, they may not need to be misted daily. If it is a Sphodromantis or Hierodula misting every 2 days is necessary and also take in account the spread of mold on waste and remains of meals.

 
MantisMatt14, my Cousin got her for me. I just asked him where I could buy a Mantid and it all happened a bit too fast for my liking.
I just asked him to look where I could buy what I need, and he just got everything instead.
I've been a bit overwhelmed with it myself that moment, but I try making the best out of the situation.
My Cousin has a good knowledge about spiders and lizards, but not so about Mantids -shrugs-

Machinar94 Thanks ^^
I do spray it every day, my Cousin told me to do that (the one that sold the Mantis, told him about that)
I feed the crickets vegetables at the moment. I also have them from my Cousin and apparently they're healthy (not from a pet store)But I think I could catch moths and the like. I'm just a bit... well, not-so-good in catching these? xD

I've seen pill bugs once or twice here, do they work too?

And I have little spiders once in a while at home (we have no poisonous spiders here) but I wonder, can I feed them?

Or are they too dangerous?

@ topic

So I assume then that the blister on the eye isn't anything very harmful? Just to make sure ^^

 
Gahri said:
MantisMatt14, my Cousin got her for me. I just asked him where I could buy a Mantid and it all happened a bit too fast for my liking.

I just asked him to look where I could buy what I need, and he just got everything instead.

I've been a bit overwhelmed with it myself that moment, but I try making the best out of the situation.

My Cousin has a good knowledge about spiders and lizards, but not so about Mantids -shrugs-

Machinar94 Thanks ^^I do spray it every day, my Cousin told me to do that (the one that sold the Mantis, told him about that)

I feed the crickets vegetables at the moment. I also have them from my Cousin and apparently they're healthy (not from a pet store)

But I think I could catch moths and the like. I'm just a bit... well, not-so-good in catching these? xD

I've seen pill bugs once or twice here, do they work too?

And I have little spiders once in a while at home (we have no poisonous spiders here) but I wonder, can I feed them?

Or are they too dangerous?

@ topic

So I assume then that the blister on the eye isn't anything very harmful? Just to make sure ^^
Click to expand...
Spiders are venomous not poisonous! That is my number one thing that annoys me. I would not feed spiders to mantids in general just because they are not very nutritious as well as pill bugs and other non flying arthropods. It is very simple. Go looking at the lights at night to catch moths. Or just bait trees with beer and syrup.

I would not spray the mantis everyday, as I mentioned before it may cause mold. The eye injury may cause potential issues during molting but hopefully it will not affect the health of your mantis.

 
As for the poisonous thing, english isn't my native language and my uhm, vocabulair isn't so enormous, especially when it comes down to these things, sorry v_v"

I'll look into it

 
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id look into switching from crickets as well... After my buddies Texas unicorn fell ill due to consuming a bad cricket I made that choice. Granted I used them for many months with no issues myself, they're very high maintenance feeders. Changing out food and water plus removal of the dead (daily...) gets old fast.

recently I switched over to mealworms,superworms, and roaches. Of course housefly,bluebottle (blowfly), moths, and anything else I can catch from the wild is on the menu. ;)

I also do not feed my crew spiders... Or anything else that can really put up much of a fight. I adore those I keep.

moths should be easy enough to catch, at night just turn a porch light on and use a cup to catch them in.

check around the trash cans outside for flies.

isopods are more used as a maintenance crew rather than a food source. ;)

 
I think you should mist every day at the moment, because if its too dry in the enclosure, the mantid will get stuck in the skin while molting. They need it to be moist. but not TOO moist. Plus i personally believe a mantid should be given water to drink every day to decrease the chances of dehydration. Btw, are you using a heat lamp? how is the container set up? Are you using man made items or items from outside?

Good luck!!

Oh, and the blister doesnt look too bad! Ive had mantids who had worse ones and survived. :)

 
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That looks like eye rub - when a mantis repeatedly rubs against the sides of the container, the outer layer of the eye becomes damaged. The result is what looks like an opaque patch, or in severe instances, the affected area will be brown/black. I haven't seen any adverse effects, and the affected eye sometimes improves with subsequent molts (though it may not completely go away). I've also seen eye issues as a result of a mismolt, where the old skin covering the eye does not come off properly, leading to eye injury.

 

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