Chinese Mantis molt failures

[Lono]

I'm fairly new to raising mantids i wanted to try breeding eventually and decided to get a chinese mantis ootheca to see how it goes since they are very cheap and easy to come by. Everything was going fine up until l4. I started having molt failures specifically they're back legs getting stuck. Originally i thought it was due to humidity since the first mantis to molt to l4 had a horrible failure and i had just moved it to a 32 oz and it was defiantly too dry for it, i wasn't expecting the molt so soon. Since then i've been keeping them humid especially when there getting ready to molt but there either getting both legs stuck or one leg it's happening to most of them probably like 80%. I've also had 2 of them rip one of there legs off in the process. If one legs gets stuck they recover quite well actually and after a while it's hard to see a problem but the ones that get both stuck end up with some pretty messed up back legs and end up stuck snaking around. The amount this is happening seems way too high I feel like i'm doing something wrong. I usually mist once a day and it evaporates after a couple hours, when i suspect molt i mist a lot more so it doesn't evaporate completely.  Am i doing something wrong? 

 

[Synapze]

This species is notorious for having a lot of molting problems, but 80%...wow. What type of molting surfaces do you use? 

 

[Lono]

Well i just have them using the vented lids, i put thick popsicle sticks in in case they want to use that but they've just been using the lids they haven't fallen or seem to have problems with the surface though. I also have some in mesh cages that also have similar bad rate of getting stuck, its also much dryer in there though i'm more surprised at them failing in the deli cups. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

That's interesting that you're having that big of a problem. This species generally has mismolts, but 80% is a little too high. Try misting twice a day, and using a layer of coco husk on the bottom of the cage to hold humidity. Don't keep it too high though.

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Lono]

i do have some coco husk i will try, thanks. I may be a little premature/exaggerating on 80% when they were molting to l4 i felt like it was 50% but it was just a rough estimate and a lot of them were in mesh which was dryer, so far only 5 in delicups have molted to l5 and 4 failed but there's still a lot more to go.

 

[Lono]

Ok well i just had another molt and fail both legs again...but this time i was able to watch the entire process and might have figured out the problem i just need a second opinion. It's definatly not humidity there was more then enough this time, but this particular mantis was the fattest of them all and really i've been keeping them pretty fat i think maybe overfeeding is the issue? when she molted her legs got stuck and she kept trying to hang lower to help but that only made it harder and eventually she had her abdomen totally out and was hanging from her stuck legs. This was another issue because she started freaking out and climbed to safety with her legs still stuck and this happened way too soon she wasn't even close to done hardening yet. Do you guys think overfeeding could be the problem?

 

[MrGhostMantis]

How often do you feed them?

 

[MantisGirl13]

That could definitely be the problem, I've heard of it before. 

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Lono]

probably way too much, i was feeding everyday when they were small then went to every other day. A lot more then i feed my other mantids...I was hoping they would molt quicker so i could sex them. Once i was able to sex them i slowed down feeding on the males but kept the females every other day and usually feeding till they were full. I'm guessing at the very least i shouldn't have been trying to keep them fat all the time. The males haven't started molting yet, so it's all the females that are failing now and now that i think about it the one that was successful was the only one that wouldn't eat until it was full, it was the skinniest of them

 

[Krissim Klaw]

One thing to make sure of is to mist near the mantis so they can drink when you spray. This species tends to enjoy their water and internal hydration tends to be more important than the humidity. You really don't need to feed the boys/girls at different rates as they tend to mature about the same speed.

I would suggest watching the weight with this species however as they are indeed gluttons. I've on more than one occasion seen them down food even hours before molting. I usually feed nymphs every other day but give them a set amount rather than feeding until they are so porked out they can't eat anymore. In my opinion this species is also poorly suited to shedding from horizontal surfaces. I tend to raise mine in net cages and often sit them at an angle. This also tends to prevent the floppy abdomen issue that the species can suffer from in their later molts. I often credit my early success with this species with the fact I used to use the triangle/pyramid shaped net cages. As a newbie to the mantis hobby I was rather confused why people complained about this species being notorious about shedding problems as I never had issues even back when I had no idea what I was doing.

 

[Lono]

thanks i think i'll try that next molt since i have a couple mesh cages, but over feeding looks like it was the problem. I had a bunch of successful molts after i let them thin out a bit.