Eye help

[Mel]

Can someone please tell me why Charles Mantis’ eye looks like this and what I can do?  It happened between last night and this morning.  He is normally super outgoing and friendly and is now timid and weary of movement.   Thank you so much, Mel

 

[MrGhostMantis]

It’s eye rub. What kind of enclosure is he in, and is there a lot of movement near it. If he is an adult, he may just be getting old. They usually become slower and less active the older they are.

 

[Mel]

Thank you so much for getting back to me. Yes, Charles Mantis  has been an adult for 3 months now.  He is in a 6” by 12” by 18” screened enclosure with plants and dowel rods (smoothed edges).  No unordinary movement near his home. Can I do anything to help the eye rub? 

 

[Mantid-Tim]

It’s eye rub. What kind of enclosure is he in, and is there a lot of movement near it. If he is an adult, he may just be getting old. They usually become slower and less active the older they are.

Also I have seen mantises with this, and even worse than the one in your picture, and they lived long lives and were still able to hunt. So, it can't affect their vision too much if they can still catch flies. I have heard of it getting bad to the point of blindness but keep an 'eye' out if the mantis seems to like to rub its eyes on the glass.

 

[MrGhostMantis]

You can’t really treat eye rub. All that Tim said is true, but where the eye rub is, they can’t see. They rely on their antennae when they have a ton of eye rub to sense the movement of potential food.

 

[Mel]

This makes complete sense for his antenna have been in overdrive since this morning.  He struck and missed the mealworm snack 4 times -I just put it on tweezers and he’s now happily eating.  Thank you both for your time, care and knowledge.  We’ll see how he does with flies later. 

 

[Mantid-Tim]

You can’t really treat eye rub. All that Tim said is true, but where the eye rub is, they can’t see. They rely on their antennae when they have a ton of eye rub to sense the movement of potential food.

Never knew or thought about that.... Interesting.

This makes complete sense for his antenna have been in overdrive since this morning.  He struck and missed the mealworm snack 4 times -I just put it on tweezers and he’s now happily eating.  Thank you both for your time, care and knowledge.  We’ll see how he does with flies later. 

No problem. Good luck with your mantis.

Worse comes to worse you can hand feed him every other day if he gets to where he can no longer hunt.

 

[Jake G.]

Try to prevent him from damaging his eyes further, as it can cause infection if it becomes too severe.