Earlier today, I thought I had a dead mantis.

[-MK-]

Something very strange happened today. When I got up, I did the routine bug check only to find one of my adult Chinese females lying on her back, looking stone dead. I didn't even bother getting her out immediately because I was so sure that she was dead and that there was no way of bringing her back. When I removed the lid from her enclosure and blew on her, her antennae twitched along with a couple of legs, but I've seen dying mantids do that in the past.

I picked up her enclosure and walked to the kitchen. There, I tilted the enclosure, expecting her to just roll out. Instead, she only rolled once and then slowly stood up. I carefully brought her out and set her on the kitchen counter, and she started walking around! Then she climbed up the side of a cup! I got her to drink some water from a spoon, rinsed out her enclosure, and put her back in with a fresh paper towel. She wouldn't eat, but she had a big cricket a couple of days ago.

She's hanging from her screen lid now and has been for the last couple of hours. She looks perfectly normal aside from a small dark spot on her belly.

Does anyone have any similar stories? I thought for sure she was a goner, even though she's only been an adult for about a month.

 

[ismart]

I have noticed with chinese they tend to deteriorate rather slowly. She will gradualy weaken and die.

 

[Rick]

Or she may have played dead. I can't recall if I have seen this species do it but many do.

 

[Dwaink]

Or she may have played dead. I can't recall if I have seen this species do it but many do.

Hi,

Sounds to me like it fell, they are sure footed but accidents happen. I found one yesterday in my greenhouse that drowned. I did not see this, but it looked like she lost her footing and fell into the tray of water.

Regards

 

[charleyandbecky]

What ended up happening with this mantis? Did she recover?

I have one Chinese mantis that has played dead twice now...she was born in early April, had her first "death" in late May, and had another dying episode in late August. Both times I thought she was quite dead. I know she is getting on in age now and is slowing down, but with her history of playing dead, I'm going to have to be very sure she has really passed on when the time comes. I have posted about this mantis before...she's a real drama queen and I have never had such a dramatic mantis before...you should have seen the way she carried on before each molt.

 

[massaman]

kind of like my single acromantis female who plays dead even if you touch her or try to move her around!

 

[bassist]

kind of like my single acromantis female who plays dead even if you touch her or try to move her around!

That species plays dead if you look at them <_<

 

[-MK-]

What ended up happening with this mantis? Did she recover?

Unfortunately, she died the next day for real. I've never seen any of the Chinese mantids from the ooths I got play dead; if they act like something's wrong, it's always been because something was seriously wrong. Otherwise, they're either hyper or motionless but always looking healthy and strong.

The sudden decline is what confounds me. This mantis was double-fisting crickets just a couple of days before she died. She acted like a perfectly healthy bug right up until I found her lying there the first time. For the rest of that day, she was able to stay up on the lid, but was showing signs of slowing down.

 

[charleyandbecky]

I'm sorry...I hate it when that happens, but you can take comfort knowing she was healthy and happy to the end. Sometimes that just happens. I had one Chinese from the same ooth as the one I was talking about earlier that was the biggest, healthiest looking mantis out of the bunch. She was eating good, etc., and had molted to adult about three weeks earlier. Suddenly she had a quick decline and died within about 12 hours. It was sad, but everyone here on the boards assured me it just happens sometimes.

 

[KingPrawn]

I had that happen to my mantis as well. She was "double fisting crickets" just a couple days ago and now she is deteriorating. I put her outside on a flower so she can die free.

 

[charleyandbecky]

I love that second picture...really enjoying the meal. I'm sorry about your mantis.