Found mantis with maggots in tail - HELP urgent pls!!

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Raleighuga

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Some elementary age children at my next door neighbor's school found a mantis on the windowsill today. My neighbor brought the mantis home to me, saying oh she just laid an egg sack on the way home. Seeing the egg sack wiggling around in the bag, I knew that isn't what it was. Upon arriving home, I had my boyfriend take a look at her (this was 5ish hours later, her tail had become significantly bigger & I could see the movement inside), and as I suspected there were maggots inside her tail.

He has forced some of them out. But I'm wondering if anyone has seen this before.

What should we do? Any suggestions?

 
The only thing you can do is place her in the freeze for at least 24 hours for a humane death. She has parasites and the maggots, or whatever she has, has ate her insides. She will not survive even if you can carefully remove the maggots sadly.

 
Thank you so much for your quick response! Although of course that wasn't the answer I was hoping to get...and unfortunately this was the second mantis we've lost in the past week, the first was our pet who mis-molted last weekend. While reading countless posts on here trying to see if there was any way I could help her pull through the molting trauma, I saw your name many times and noticed you seem to be quite knowledgeable about mantids in general and was wondering if you could recommend where I should go to order a pet mantis online. I contacted Peter (the site owner, I can't recall his last name) but for some reason the link to his site never came through on his reply message. And also if you don't mind recommending the species you think we might have the best luck with. Our mantis was green, we found her in Hilton Head, South Carolina a couple months ago, she was pretty young though but super friendly with both me & my son. She loved to climb all over our arms, heads, etc. & even when we took her outside, she wouldn't leave, she just stayed right with us (like a little puppy), we absolutely adored her & thoroughly enjoyed the interaction & personality I never thought we would see in an insect of any kind for sure. She was treated like another child to tell you the truth (I know the mishap today was in no way my fault but kinda makes me feel like I'm an irresponsible pet owner, which I can assure you I have always been anything but that, so you don't feel compelled to discourage me from purchasing a new pet...).

I'd greatly appreciate any assistance you can offer. I've done as much homework as I possibly can but have not figured out which way to turn at this juncture...

Many thanks!

By the way, we live just outside Atlanta, GA, if that matters (although of course the mantis would be inside regardless)

 
Raleighuga said:
Thank you so much for your quick response! Although of course that wasn't the answer I was hoping to get...and unfortunately this was the second mantis we've lost in the past week, the first was our pet who mis-molted last weekend. While reading countless posts on here trying to see if there was any way I could help her pull through the molting trauma, I saw your name many times and noticed you seem to be quite knowledgeable about mantids in general and was wondering if you could recommend where I should go to order a pet mantis online. I contacted Peter (the site owner, I can't recall his last name) but for some reason the link to his site never came through on his reply message. And also if you don't mind recommending the species you think we might have the best luck with. Our mantis was green, we found her in Hilton Head, South Carolina a couple months ago, she was pretty young though but super friendly with both me & my son. She loved to climb all over our arms, heads, etc. & even when we took her outside, she wouldn't leave, she just stayed right with us (like a little puppy), we absolutely adored her & thoroughly enjoyed the interaction & personality I never thought we would see in an insect of any kind for sure. She was treated like another child to tell you the truth (I know the mishap today was in no way my fault but kinda makes me feel like I'm an irresponsible pet owner, which I can assure you I have always been anything but that, so you don't feel compelled to discourage me from purchasing a new pet...).

I'd greatly appreciate any assistance you can offer. I've done as much homework as I possibly can but have not figured out which way to turn at this juncture...

Many thanks!

By the way, we live just outside Atlanta, GA, if that matters (although of course the mantis would be inside regardless)
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Your welcome, and I was sorry to have to say it (but there was nothing that could be done). Not sure how much I know, I just tend to be on here often. ;)

Sounds like a great pet, sorry to hear she had a mismolt. They happen no matter how well they are taken care of, had one myself today actually. By all means get another pet mantis, I would not persuade you from it, but if anything I'd sway you to get another. :D Do you have any photos of her to share?

There are three native/naturalized species it could have been in that area - Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis), European Mantis (Mantis religiosa), and Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina). I would guess by the personality it was a Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina), but might have been a Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) too (no way of knowing without seeing a photo).

Peter Clausen's website is BugsInCyberspace.com. Others to check out would be MantisPets.com and MantisPlace.com.

Also the classifieds here on the forum are a great source too, and where I typically get my new pets. Just be sure to take a look at their breeder feedback to ensure you won't have a problem with the seller. If you don't see what you want just place a ad listing what you want to buy.

For a good species I would recommend Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina), Ghosts (Phyllocrania paradoxa), Egyptian Pygmy mantis (Miomantis paykullii), or any of the so called Giant African mantises or Giant Asian mantises as they are typically great too. The Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) although native, isn't recommended by many as they can be difficult.

Ghost mantises (Phyllocrania paradoxa) are a very hardy species, not demanding and great for beginners too, and have a great exotic look to them. I had two I raised from L2 to adults before they died, and now have two more I got as L2's again and have they have reached L5 lately.

 
Sounds like larvae of flies from the family Tachinidae. Do a search, we've discussed it before.

 
Welcome, I am glad to say I never seen that in a mantis, lucky me! if it had green along the wing line it was the Chinese, if not the relligiosa is slender and around 2 3/4" in or 3" and had no stripe on wings.

 
Wow, I had no idea that tachid flies also attack and infest mantis. We deal with them in home rearing caterpillars taken from the wild. Thank you for the education. I am sorry to hear about both of these mantis dying.

 
I hate those flies! Im sorry you had an unhappy ending to your mantids. Mismolts can be heart wrenching, but the maggots! What a horror they are. I hope you have better luck in the future.

 
This was helpful for me to read. This year was a banner year for me to find wild mantises (almost all Carolina except for one Chinese). I found more than 10 just on my walks to and from work. Of these, all were female! Two of them, however, had strange discolorations on their abdomens, which were fairly rounded (although this was true of all the ones I found, it being the season for laying oothecae), and within 24 hours of bringing them home and trying to feed them, their poor abdomens tore through and maggots crawled out--several at a time--and then immediately buried themselves into the substrate of the aquarium. I had never seen this happen before. I knew of parasitic flies and wasps that would eat a host from the inside out, but not with mantises. I searched online for mantis-specific parasites and had no luck. I should have done what I usually do and checked here first, duh! I found it unsettling that I had two of these, found within a day of each other. I immediately separated all my mantises out of the aquarium in the fear that the maggots I couldn't find in the substrate were now preparing to pupate and might emerge to harm my others! A couple days later on my walk, I spotted a dead mantis hanging in a bush, same type of injuries suggesting parasite maggots bursting from the now-hollow abdomen. Fortunately, none of the ones I have kept to now are infected (4 in total at this point, all female, laying ooths every week it seems!) I felt terrible for the ones that died, mainly because since I didn't know what was happening, I didn't realize how much they might be suffering. I had no idea they were being eaten inside or I would have frozen them.

Of the mantises I caught this year, I only kept the 4 because it got very cold for a couple weeks right after I found them. Normally I will keep them for about a week and feed them as much as they are willing to eat. If I don't find a mate for them during that time, I take them to a nice forest or field and let them go again. Since we're now in November, I haven't let these 4 ladies go because even though it is warm right now, it likely won't last. The temps drop sharply once the sun goes down and I doubt they would have survived the last cold snap. I know they won't survive the next, and they seem so healthy and alert I can't bring myself to subject them to it. It was different when I knew they still had a month or more to find a mate and lay some ooths.

 
Dont let the parasites escape outside! You could let them hatch, freeze them then check around for a college where there is a entomologist and ask them to try to id the parasites.

I wonder if they were introduced, either deliberately or by accident? An id would be great.

 
I sifted through the substrate, trying to find either the maggots or any pupae they may have become, but nothing. There are white dwarf isos, springtails, cockroach nymphs, and Dermestids all throughout, so I wonder if perhaps they feasted on any pupae? I still haven't returned any mantises to the aquarium for fear they may still be in there. I keep the screen cover on it all the time because of the roaches anyway, so it's unlikely anything else could escape either.

The maggots were not tiny. They were only slightly smaller than Bluebottle maggots, about the same size & appearance as the average housefly, but fast. They burrowed into that substrate too quick for me to get into the tank and fish them out first. There are some fruit flies reproducing in there as well, but not many. So I have been watching for anything that flies to appear in there. If I find anything, I will try to post photos and get an ID. It has only been a couple of weeks, so something may still emerge.

 

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