Can a bad molt be corrected in the next molt?

[Precarious]

Q: Can a bad molt be corrected in the next molt?

I've been raising a small group of violin mantises up from L2. I've had no problems until now. They all eat well and have been molting properly.

However, there is one who has always been smaller than the others. I kept it separate for a while to ensure it got enough food. I've since added it back to the group enclosure and it was doing well, but this last molt (into L5?) went badly.

It molted during the night and fell. It was on a lower level than the others so I don't believe there was any outside interference. I woke to find the skin still hanging and the mantis on the moss. Two of it's legs are misshapen so it cannot hang. It would pull itself around with its claws continually trying to find a way to hang. I found a way to attach the bad legs to the bottom of a silk leaf and it is now content.

I am wondering, if I can get it to survive to next molt will it be ok or am I wasting my time?

It barely eats. I hand feed it flies. It grabs them, takes a few bites, then tosses them. It will only try this once a day. It makes me sad. I'm willing to do anything I can to help it but I'm beginning to suspect I'm wasting my time.

Any advice?

 

[massaman]

not much you can do other then put it in the fridge to put it out of its misery or feed it to anything else you have that could benefit from it or you can try to keep it alive but its all a matter of choice!

 

[Rick]

With a minor mishap it can be corrected. However in your case it sounds like a waste of time.

 

[Precarious]

Thanks for the advice.

It sucks but I guess I'll have to put it down. I did what I could.

 

[eur0pein]

poor mantis

 

[jday]

I know it's been a while since this topic was started, but for what it's worth, two molts ago we had a Chinese mantis with two very stubby legs and one very bent leg. Unlike yours, however, it was very hungry and very determined. I kept a lot of dense vegetation in its enclosure so it could pull itself around by its claws and stubs, and I fed it easy bugs (slow, wounded, etc.) which it ate vigorously. It has now successfully completed its final molt and is in fine shape except that a couple of its legs are shorter than expected. It hunts just fine and still has a great appetite.

We also had a hunchback that re-molted into a fine adult, but lost another similar one which fell again during its final molt. The key seems to be whether they have good appetites and whether they can hang to molt. Since yours didn't eat much and couldn't hang without a lot of assistance, I doubt it would have survived.

By the way, I just added an image for our profile: it's of the Z man with his first egg-to-adult mantis on his head. The boy and his bugs traveled over 2800 miles this summer and eight mantises are now healthy adults. Not too shabby for first timers.