xxdreamchas3r913
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i recently caught an adult female who had just molted! found her the night before in THE bush when she was sub adult and then the next day she was around the same spot with her skin next to her! Since she was already an adult i decided to catch her in case some of my males decided to molt soon. Today, I noticed that a dark spot appeared on the middle of her thorax. It's not too dark and kinda looks like there's something inside her cuz it becomes darker when you shine a light through her. I'm not completely certain, but I'm pretty sure she didn't have that when i found her. You can barely see it during the day unless the lighting is right, but it gets clearer when its dark and theres a light behind her. Not too sure what it is, at first thought it could be a pattern or marking like the brown or beige colored limbatas have sometimes, but ive never seen one of the green ones with them. I'm hopeful that it's not a disease like the black death cuz she's been acting and eating normally and hasn't produced any black liquid or goo. I'm kinda scared it might be a parasite or something tho. If there's the chance that it is a disease or something should i move her further away from the others? could anything she has be contagious? Can someone assure me that I'm being over paranoid and she's fine? I would really appreciate any feedback please! Anyone have an idea what this is? Thank you!!
here's some photos where you can kinda see it:
UPDATE: After i typed this and before i posted it, I went back to check on her and the dark spot disappeared! I looked really close and held a flashlight behind her and noticed something that looks like fluid moving inside her. The thought then hit me that it might have just been food in her travelling down her body. I know i probably sound completely oblivious to the basics of insect biology, but i never really thought that it could be food. I mean, even when I noticed the fluid movement thing in her, I was pretty surprised! I had to check one of my other girls to see if i could see something moving in her too. It was alot harder to see, probably cuz they're different colors, but after a bit i noticed movement in the other one too! It's pretty obvious, even for me, that mantids would have bodily fluids and movement in there but I never knew it could be visible, other than the glass mantis. But if it really was just food, how come I've never noticed the same thing with any of my other mantids before? and the black spot was there pretty much all day which is kinda a long time to get food down her thorax in my opinion, but I have no knowledge of a mantid's digestive process so it's not like my opinion really counts. But the dark spot was at the same part of her thorax since i first noticed it so if it's food, could it have been stuck or something? In any case, I'm feeling alot better about it now, but if anyone suspects its something more complicated than a slow and/or apparently visible digestive process, I would still really appreciate any opinions!
here's some photos where you can kinda see it:
UPDATE: After i typed this and before i posted it, I went back to check on her and the dark spot disappeared! I looked really close and held a flashlight behind her and noticed something that looks like fluid moving inside her. The thought then hit me that it might have just been food in her travelling down her body. I know i probably sound completely oblivious to the basics of insect biology, but i never really thought that it could be food. I mean, even when I noticed the fluid movement thing in her, I was pretty surprised! I had to check one of my other girls to see if i could see something moving in her too. It was alot harder to see, probably cuz they're different colors, but after a bit i noticed movement in the other one too! It's pretty obvious, even for me, that mantids would have bodily fluids and movement in there but I never knew it could be visible, other than the glass mantis. But if it really was just food, how come I've never noticed the same thing with any of my other mantids before? and the black spot was there pretty much all day which is kinda a long time to get food down her thorax in my opinion, but I have no knowledge of a mantid's digestive process so it's not like my opinion really counts. But the dark spot was at the same part of her thorax since i first noticed it so if it's food, could it have been stuck or something? In any case, I'm feeling alot better about it now, but if anyone suspects its something more complicated than a slow and/or apparently visible digestive process, I would still really appreciate any opinions!
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