"Frozen"?

[Chivalry]

I took out my P. wahlbergii L4 nymph today. He was his usual cool self, doing his little dance, totally normal. He molted a couple if days ago. I had my hubby hold him while I cleaned his container with dish soap. I then fed him fruit flies - same ones I've been feeding him - and put him back in his spot. About half an hour later I went by and noticed he was in an odd position. It's almost like a threat display, with his raptorials behind his head, his antennae back, and nothing I do gets him to move much beyond a little twitch.

What the heck is going on, and did I do something wrong here?? Was it the dish soap? He was fine!

 

[Chivalry]

I should note that he is firmly clinging to the ceiling of his container.

 

[Rick]

If you rinsed the enclosure well enough the soap shouldn't be an issue. Really hard to say.

 

[agent A]

did he get attacked by an assassin bug through the lid? ants? i've had more than my share of insects dismembered by tiny ants that fit through the screen and attack, usually sick or dead insects but i've lost 2 or 3 healthy mantises in cages with big screen that stinging or biting insects got through and attacked them while vulnerable

i have wasps, spiders, ants, and earwigs bothering my luna rearing sleeve and that's fine cloth

 

[brancsikia339]

Same thing happened with my heterochaeta, only i didn't wash the container out with soap

 

[happy1892]

Some kind of poison. Maybe there was too much of that soap. My mantids did that when they were dying because of sick crickets. Here is a Stagmomantis carolina that ate a bad cricket.

She used to be worse than in the picture.

 

[agent A]

Some kind of poison. Maybe there was too much of that soap. My mantids did that when they were dying because of sick crickets. Here is a Stagmomantis carolina that ate a bad cricket.

She used to be worse than in the picture.

looks like she is abt to molt

sometimes they get stuck so early in the molt they dont even start to escape the exoskeleton

 

[happy1892]

looks like she is abt to molt

sometimes they get stuck so early in the molt they dont even start to escape the exoskeleton

No, she was not about to molt. She got very sick after eating a cricket and she barley moved then after about two weeks she could move around. She vomited a lot. When she was able to eat I gave her some food. She ate a little then a little bit later she got more sick like before. And this kept happening over and over and she got thinner and thinner. That is what they look like when they start molting.

 

[Chivalry]

Next morning he was "unfrozen" and now seems totally fine.

 

[MantisSFB]

My H. Bipapilla has been doing the same thing. I used soap to clean out the cheese puff container but I rinsed it out more than once with scalding hot water before I sat up the habitat. A couple days ago it was dancing and had some water but since then its been froze in this position in the same place. I can move that mesh lid its standing on upside down or frontways up and it will not react. It is stiff as a statue.

I sat a cricket in front of its line of sight in this photo. Even with the cricket its head stayed stationary. I know that she was eating roaches before. She may not be hungry at all. I'll continue to see if she will move.

 

[Aryia]

Next morning he was "unfrozen" and now seems totally fine.

Do you have a picture? P. wahlbergii can and will play dead for quite some time especially after being handled. They usually don't understand that we mean no harm, instead they feign death in an attempt to escape us. Most of the time they play dead by rolling into a little ball and dropping dead though, sometimes I see nymphs that just freeze in whatever pose they are currently doing. Another thing I notice is if you mess with their feet during their "play dead" period they will eventually grab and after a moment of "Oh I moved", they try to act like nothing has happened and resume with being their normal selves.

It may of course have been something in the dish soap, we'll never know. Though honestly I've never really seen mantises recover once they've become lethargic or acting oddly, so I personally doubt the dish soap could've done it.

 

[MantisSFB]

Do you have a picture? P. wahlbergii can and will play dead for quite some time especially after being handled. They usually don't understand that we mean no harm, instead they feign death in an attempt to escape us. Most of the time they play dead by rolling into a little ball and dropping dead though, sometimes I see nymphs that just freeze in whatever pose they are currently doing. Another thing I notice is if you mess with their feet during their "play dead" period they will eventually grab and after a moment of "Oh ###### I moved", they try to act like nothing has happened and resume with being their normal selves.

It may of course have been something in the dish soap, we'll never know. Though honestly I've never really seen mantises recover once they've become lethargic or acting oddly, so I personally doubt the dish soap could've done it.

Hello Ariya,

Thank you for responding. The picture I have posted above is basically what it has done for a while. I just take it now as maybe she is sensitive and people make her jumpy. After this post I decided to switch to mealworms too. She doesn't like to be bothered and let's me know clearly.

So, what I do is work with in her comfort zone. I set up easy scenarios for her to eat the meal worms. She is now eating and drinking plenty. I still attempt to give her the choice to crawl on my hand. I don't push it though, only if she feels up to it. I am also giving her more options for the walls of the habitat.

My two miomantis are doing great! They love attention.