Drop Dead mantid

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My male iris oratoria was very healthy until about 5 days ago.  He started going into the threat pose for no reason for the first time ever.  Then 2 days ago, he lost half one of his front "paws".  So I fed him.  Yesterday he only could eat 2 fruit flies.  This morning he was running around in the threat pose again.  When I came home today, he had dropped dead. sThis is so devastating.  I hate raining mantids because it is too heart-breaking.  He hatched outside in December and is an L9. (Molted 8 times). Do L9's just drop dead early?  I know it is crazy but I counted and yes he molted once more than his sibling that hatched on same day.

Or could he have been poisoned?

Or could mantids without "paws" just die?  I have seen 3 other mantids that lost their paws all die days after loosing paw.  Is that it?  (What is the correct name for their "praying" front legs?

I try so hard, but it is never enough...

 

[River Dane]

I’m sorry for your loss. Unfortunately random deaths are inevitable when it comes to taking on life forms, even in creatures besides mantids. 

As for mantis paws, they’re called raptorial limbs, or just raptorials.

We might need a little more information about what happened right before his death. What made him lose his raptorial? If you found the missing limb, what did it look like? What was his last meal before his decline? Was there any mold in his habitat? What triggered his first threat pose? Could he see your other mantises? How often did you handle him leading up to his death?

I know this is a lot of questions, but it might help us figure out what went wrong. Maybe someone else here can share a similar experience that may also help.

 

[Mantis Lady]

Sorry for your loss. Yeah, I would like to know more about this.

 

[[email protected]]

Thank you! That's right: Raptorials! 

Now in my gut, I think it was more a lack of handling that led to his demise.  His sibling is in much worse shape than he was, so I was paying more attention to the sibling by hand feeding, watering off tooth-pick, etc. . .

I believe he lost his raptorial by getting it caught on the mesh of the ceiling, while trying to catch a fruit fly.  (I have been very careful the last month especially keeping mold out of enclosure and out of fruit fly home). I did not find his raptorial yet.

His last meal. . . I thought he was eating fruit flies. But I guess he was having a hard time catching them. . .  I also noticed 5 days ago that his abdomen had become very thin, so I started hand feeding him as well.  I believe a lack of nutrition, combined with his aggressive efforts to catch bugs led to his raptorial loss.  

Maybe it was simply that he was starving and when he started eating again, his body had already began necrosis and could not handle food.  I actually cannot find much "poop" in his enclosure.  

As far as the threat pose, he cannot see the other mantids, and I do not have any healthy hormonal adult females either.  It really seemed like he was in pain which lead him to first threat pose.  ( I saw posts about them not feeling pain because they have no nociceptors. . . However, there are other mechanisms to feeling pain. .)

Thank you so much for help

 

[cwebster]

Am sorry for your loss. They just dont live as long as they deserve to live. I just lost one chinese mantis very suddenly and cannot figure out why. All we can do is provide the best care we can, share their lives, and when they go, remember how special they are. 

 

[Predatorhousepet]

So sorry your mantis didn't make it. It is possible for a mantis to die from only losing part of a leg....while others can lose several and live out their natural life span. Sometimes things happen that are beyond your control. For future reference here are some diagrams with basic mantis anatomy.

Praying Mantis General Anatomy 

In the above picture the foreleg is the same thing as a raptorial arm. The middle and hindlegs are also called walking legs.

Anatomy of Raptorial Arm

This diagram is a bit unclear about what the tarsus is, the first diagram is a bit better. The tarsa/tarsus are the bumpy things on the underside of the foot or walking appendage.

 

[Darth Mantis]

Sorry for your loss. Sometimes they just dont make it for no reason it wasn't anything you did they just sometime have defects or other problems that cant be detected.

 

[cwebster]

Predatorhousepet, thank you for the diagram.