Found my H. sp 'Golden' dead with brown vomit in enclosure

[SoCFroggy]

I can home today to find my mantis on the floor of the enclosure and brown fluid, that I assume is vomit, one a nearby perch. I saw her kick around a bit but I don't have high hopes for her. I read someone saying here that this is caused by the food the feeders are given. I was feeding my roaches Repashy veggie burger. Is that what happened? Can anyone shed any light on this? My mother and I are devistated, this is our first mantis and we're upset that it didn't live it's full life span. We don't know what instar we got her at but she was less than an inch. Here are some pics I just took.

 

[Connor]

Wow... so sorry this happened to you. This seems so random to me. I'm not sure about the food you were feeding the roaches with, as I have never used it. The vomit means that it was most likely some kind of sickness/infection that killed the mantis. Some experts will have to pop in here to let you know exactly what happened.

 

[SoCFroggy]

Thank you. I've already put her in the freezer. Hopefully someone can get me an explanation soon.

 

[Kermit]

The vomit is from bad bacteria most often from feeders that were themselves unhealthy.

Some mantises will overcome this, but unfortunately most do not.

 

[Sticky]

Is this what iz known as The Black Death?

 

[Kermit]

Yes, exactly ?

 

[SoCFroggy]

How can I tell if a roach is unwell?

 

[Ocelotbren]

Sorry for your loss.   They can go downhill so fast.

 

[Kermit]

You have to make sure that there are clean quarters for them. No dead roaches for the others to feed on, and remove uneaten food. 

So when you feed them go back and remove uneaten food within a half a day say.

They say roaches and flies are the cleanest food you can feed your mantises. However I have experienced black vomit and in some cases Black Death resulting from flies that were not well either.

There are a few things that cause death in this hobby. You can never eliminate them 100%. But only minimize the occurrences. Black Death (bad feeders) and mismolts are the most common. Ventilation, humidity, and temps are other considerations.

It's difficult to have visual signs of whether a feeder is infected however if you see that the colony of feeders are experiencing a lot of mortality and that can be a sign that their conditions are not appropriate.

 

[SoCFroggy]

Sorry for your loss.   They can go downhill so fast.

Thank you I truly had no idea.

 

[SoCFroggy]

You have to make sure that there are clean quarters for them. No dead roaches for the others to feed on, and remove uneaten food. 

So when you feed them go back and remove uneaten food within a half a day say.

They say roaches and flies are the cleanest food you can feed your mantises. However I have experienced black vomit and in some cases Black Death resulting from flies that were not well either.

There are a few things that cause death in this hobby. You can never eliminate them 100%. But only minimize the occurrences. Black Death (bad feeders) and mismolts are the most common. Ventilation, humidity, and temps are other considerations.

It's difficult to have visual signs of whether a feeder is infected however if you see that the colony of feeders are experiencing a lot of mortality and that can be a sign that their conditions are not appropriate.

They always ate their food, I always removed the few deaths there were and they never left any food behind. I only had about 5 or less deaths since I bought them in August. This is rather unfortunate :/ 

What's the best way to dispose of a dead mantis?

 

[Kermit]

There's the sentimental approach, or the fast and efficient approach... Which do you prefer?

 

[SoCFroggy]

There's the sentimental approach, or the fast and efficient approach... Which do you prefer?

The sentimental. This one stings.

 

[Connor]

If your looking for the sentimental route... You could try and pin her or bury her. 

 

[Kermit]

Connor said it... Both good ideas.?

 

[SoCFroggy]

How would I pin her??

 

[Connor]

I've never done it before. But I'm sure there are many posts on the forum and many spread across to internet...