Fratricide !

[Digger]

This Spring I hatched three wild Tenodera sinensis ooths. Raising then releasing all but a handful. Then gave away all but two and put those in separate medium sized Kritter Keepers. As their adult molt became imminent a week ago. I transferred both subs to a large Kritter Keeper and carefully secured (lots of duct tape) a cardboard wall inside the Keeper, halving it inside and blocking each Chinese from getting to each other. One of them (Emerald) molted beautifully two days ago.

This morning I discovered Tiffany holding a small amalgamated mass in her raptors. Looked weird. Not a moth, I thought (only fed moths for the last week). Then it struck me. She was in Emerald's side of the cage. I looked on the opposite side of the wall. No Emerald. Boy was I pis*ed ! The much smaller Tiffany had squeezed through a slit on top of the wall and attacked her much larger sibling. I'm very surprised that the smaller mantis was able to overcome the adult. My fault of course. Once Emerald had molted I should have moved her to another cage. Only had one large Kritter Keeper, so I wanted both mantids to do the adult molt there since it provided the necessary space and freedom.

I sternly rebuked Tiffany regarding this horrible act. She just stared at me and mumbled something incoherent. Because she had a mouthful of Emerald.

 

[agent A]

happy fratricide friday

oh shoot i gotta avoid my sister!!!

 

[Krissim Klaw]

She clearly wants to be the only woman in your life.

 

[Termite48]

Too bad, the lessons we sometimes must learn.

 

[Digger]

Too bad, the lessons we sometimes must learn.

That's for sure. And I WAS preparing to move the molted adult to a medium cage for this very reason! Just a bad idea doing a makeshift wall.

 

[agent A]

wait

if emerald was female, this was sororicide!!!