Feeding levels and breeding/maturation

[Graceface]

Letty, one of my female adult Orchid Mantises, mismolted on her final molt and sustained damage. Her right raptorial arm is a bit wonky and her right eye has a bit of damage, too. Otherwise, she is fine. (There is more info about her mismolt, including pictures, here). Her arm moves, but she is less adept at hunting now, as the arm has limited movement and strikes at an odd angle. Also, her eye injury may be limiting her ability to track prey

Letty is eating, but she eats far less than my other adult females, I'd say 50 to 65% less, probably due to her reduced hunting success rate. She also drops about 25% of her meals midmeal. I've been compensating by giving her extra flies (more in her enclosure means it should be easier to catch one), and switching them out daily in case she doesn't eat them so the flies won't die and be wasted. She is eating an average of 2 flies a day currently, where her sisters eat 10 to 12 at a feeding.

I tried tong feeding her, but she won't take to it. Idk if it is because I haven't tong fed in the past, or because of her eye injury making it hard for her to see the prey on the tongs or know where to strike. I also tried feeding bigger prey, like headless superworms, but she got offended and has refused to eat anything but flies. 

I am planning on breeding my adult females, and was hoping to still breed Letty. My concern is: will she get enough nutrition to produce ooth on her reduced diet? Idk if she will hunt more if her hunger grows larger or more pressing. Will her reduced diet delay her maturation to sexual maturity?

 

[Darth Mantis]

I have not kept Orchid Mantises before but I would expect that she would still be able to mate and lay her Ooths as long as she can hold on to a spot to lay them. Assuming all her plumbing is working properly and if she eats less she should still be able to produce ooths that have viable eggs it just may take longer to make one and by that I mean there might be more time between ooths or they may just be smaller that would they would normally be with possible less eggs in it but they should still hatch like a normal ooth. I wouldn't expect eating less to delay her maturation to sexual maturity but maybe wait an extra week before mating her if you can just to be safe. Of course Im completely guessing maybe someone who knows more can give a better answer but to me it seems the best way to found out is to just try it and see what she does. If im not mistaken Orchid Mantises should lay an ooth whether or not they are mated so might as well try.

 

[Graceface]

Thanks for the reply @Darth Mantis I'm hoping she can still breed. The plan is to try and see how it goes! 

 

[Graceface]

I don't think Letty is going to make it. This morning, she was hanging weird from her enclosure lid, only hanging on by 3 legs, one being a raptorial arm. An hour later, she was barely hanging on with 2. I got her out and tried to give her water and honey/bee pollen but she barely moves her mandible when it is placed against her mouth.

Over the last week, her bad eye has grown darker and is now almost entirely purple. There is a long price of frass stuck to her abdomen (odd it isn't round) and she won't move when prodded (or straight up poked). I managed to get her off the lid and placed her on the floor of her enclosure, but it isn't looking too good. I don't know what else I can do.

I'm pretty bummed out about her

 

[hysteresis]

 

[Graceface]

Letty was completely unresponsive, I gave her the freezer treatment. She is in the great terrarium in the sky now RIP sweet angel

 

[Darth Mantis]

It sounds like her damaged parts might had gotten infected (a common sign of infection in insects is the area turning darker to a black or purpleish color similar to how in humans redness is a sign of infection around a cut) . I am sorry. As far as I know there is nothing else that could be done once a serious infection has taken hold it can be nearly impossible for it to get better this is true for humans as well we as humans sometimes have to use antibiotics to fight infections. Maybe if it was a limb or tarsi the affected area could be amputated but of course that also makes a new wound that can very easily become infected as well so it really is a difficult thing to do anything about. 

 

[hysteresis]

Can antibiotics be applied topically?

 

[Graceface]

Can antibiotics be applied topically?

Idk, she didn't have an open wound, per se. It was a mismolt injury, she molted off of the ladder in a 32oz cup and sustained damage to her right eye and raptorial arm during the process. It could've been an infection from the internal damage. I gave her honey water as a supplement, which is the closest thing I could give her to an antibiotic.

If she couldn't see out of one eye, and was failing at catching prey, is it possible she just gave up? Maybe she had internal damage I was unaware of. 

I'm just so sad about it...

where is Dr Quinn Mantis Medicine Woman when you need her? 

 

[Darth Mantis]

Can antibiotics be applied topically?

I dont think so unless someone made something specifically for insects. I would suspect most things that you can give to humans to kill bacteria would also kill most insects.

 

[hysteresis]

@Graceface right?

Dr. Mantis MD

 

[Darth Mantis]

It could also have been that the damaged tissue was damaged in such a way that it killed a large amount of cells regardless of infection or no infection and it would make sense to me that the dead or dying part would turn purpleish like gangrene I guess. When cells die unexpectedly they release toxins and if enough die then those toxins can poison the rest of the body or kill other cells around them. 

 

[Graceface]

It could also have been that the damaged tissue was damaged in such a way that it killed a large amount of cells regardless of infection or no infection and it would make sense to me that the dead or dying part would turn purpleish like gangrene I guess. When cells die unexpectedly they release toxins and if enough die then those toxins can poison the rest of the body or kill other cells around them. 

I assume this is the case.

It is possible she had internal injuries that worsened with time. She was eating 2 days ago, albeit less than my other females as I described above. Idk. She was completely unresponsive to any stimulus and seemed to deteriorate rapidly. I chose to end her suffering in the freezer, I couldn't stomach my other idea of feeding her to another Female Orchid

 

[MantisGirl13]

I am so sorry you lost her, @Graceface! That is really sad  

- MantisGirl13

 

[Graceface]

I am so sorry you lost her, @Graceface! That is really sad  

- MantisGirl13

Thanks @MantisGirl13 She was fine yesterday, ate 2 flies and drank honey water. She was pretty thirsty and drank a lot. Her eye had been looking a bit darker, but the injury seemed to make her more photosensitive and I noticed she had "night eyes" sometimes even in the day (perhaps it was her trying to see prey better). I don't think there was a thing I could've done, but I feel just terrible about it. 

 

[Darth Mantis]

You did everything you could. 

 

[Mantis Lady]

I chose to end her suffering in the freezer, I couldn't stomach my other idea of feeding her to another Female Orchid

sorry for your loss. You did the best you did for her (I cant feed a sick mantis to  another mantis too)

 

[cwebster]

Am sorry Lefty didnt make it. I know you tried everything. Mantids are so fragile and have so many molting issues, sadly.