Discolored dark nymph

[AltarMantis]

Hi everyone, thanks for stopping by my thread. I just wanted to premptiviley ask for advice on a nymph I've got the i believe is in L3. I've noticed that his head and neck/upper back is an almost orange brown color and his abdomen is yellow greenish in hue. My concern is that the area between his raptors and his front legs is colored dark almost as if his inside there have darkened. Wasn't sure if this should be a concern or not.

 

[AltarMantis]

I was going to suplement an image from my phone but the "paper clip" link to additional media files is for some reason only taking me to my phones Samsung ringtones...

 

[CosbyArt]

@AltarMantis Depends on the species what their typically coloring/pattern is. If you are worried it is a health related, only a photo would show for certain.

Your best option is to upload the photo to a image hosting site and paste the link here if your having image uploading issues here. A few options are PostIMG.org, Flickr.com, and Photobucket.com - which works with a phone I have no idea.

Yes phones, tablets, and other devices have problems uploading photos due to the forum software coding requiring requiring recent versions of Java and related. Phones are notorious for using outdated versions to run properly on such limited hardware and operating systems. The forum software is suppose to be updated to play nicer with such technology, but it seems it hasn't yet. In the meantime you have to use a computer (desktop or laptop) to add photos, or use a image host.

 

[AltarMantis]

Thankyou! I'm going to try updating my phone and see if that works!

 

[CosbyArt]

Thankyou! I'm going to try updating my phone and see if that works!

Your welcome, and if the update doesn't do anything (which I'm guessing it won't) then if your on Facebook join our forum's group page and post the photo there (I'll add it to the forum from there).

 

[AltarMantis]

 

[AltarMantis]

You can't quite tell in the picture but his upper body is orange-ish, mid section and head abnormally (compared to siblings ) dark inside and abdomen drastically different in hue as well as being dark on the ends. I can post a sibling if need be for comparison. It's just obvious to me that for what ever reason he looks very different.

 

[CosbyArt]

You can't quite tell in the picture but his upper body is orange-ish, mid section and head abnormally (compared to siblings ) dark inside and abdomen drastically different in hue as well as being dark on the ends. I can post a sibling if need be for comparison. It's just obvious to me that for what ever reason he looks very different.

That is strange and can be caused by a few things, however if the nymph is eating and passing frass fine (poop) I wouldn't be too concerned. If it isn't very well, vomiting, or such then you have a problem.

The black tip of the abdomen usually is caused by two things, damage that has partially healed and discolored the area (often like a scab) usually after a molt, or a bacteria infection.

The head appears normal to me, the coloration between the thorax and abdomen though can be a few things as well. It can be nothing more than the mantid is more translucent and you are looking at it's innards, it has some dark coloration banding (likely a partially healed internal damaged area), or a sign of bacteria in the digestive tract.

Again if the mantid is not vomiting and appears healthy there is little need of concern and is not bacteria related. If that is the case most likely the coloration will disappear after the next molt.

 

[AltarMantis]

Unfortunately I didn't see the post till later, but once again thank you so much CosbyArt! He ended up spending a lot of time dwelling on the ground and seemed to be behind on molting like another few that I lost and eventually would not eat if memory serves. Sadly I am left with only two remaining mantids from the original 60-80. I've been putting as much extra time as I can into them but seem to be failing. The two I've got left seem to be pretty healthy and I'm really hoping they will make it to adult hood.

 

[CosbyArt]

Unfortunately I didn't see the post till later, but once again thank you so much CosbyArt! He ended up spending a lot of time dwelling on the ground and seemed to be behind on molting like another few that I lost and eventually would not eat if memory serves. Sadly I am left with only two remaining mantids from the original 60-80. I've been putting as much extra time as I can into them but seem to be failing. The two I've got left seem to be pretty healthy and I'm really hoping they will make it to adult hood.

No problem, we all have lives off the forum, and your welcome. Sorry to hear he didn't survive long, if he stopped eating judging by the coloration on the abdomen he had problems with his digestion/passing frass (poop).

I've noticed with some ooths I've hatched all the nymphs are rather weak and don't do well no matter the care given but usually a few or even just one will survive to adulthood, so it could have been that for you as well. Best of luck to you for the remaining two nymphs.

 

[AltarMantis]

Thankyou so much! It helps to hear that because I really do care about them and it's been disheartening feeling like I've failed them. I'll keep trying!

 

[CosbyArt]

Thankyou so much! It helps to hear that because I really do care about them and it's been disheartening feeling like I've failed them. I'll keep trying!

Your welcome, indeed it does happen to us all (just most know the cause so never bother to post about it). If you feel that way it is only a sign that you have been doing everything you could and wasn't your fault. Best of luck.