General signs of old age?

[xxdreamchas3r913]

Hey everyone! Just wondering what are some signs that people usually notice when their mantids are nearing the end of their life? For me, they always slow down alot, weaken, and show less interest in food. Is that pretty much it tho? I'm wondering this because one of my adult males is somewhat old now and today he suddenly started acting very agitated and anxious. if i get anywhere near his cage, he'll turn to me and freeze, and if i so much as move my hand half a foot away from him he'll display his wings or just freak out. i put a fly in there to see if he would still feed normally and at first he might have been scared of it or was just missing. i felt much better after he caught on his 3rd try or so and started eating. but once i got up from the chair to leave the movement startled him into dropping the fly and he went back to his threat display. Do old mantids ever get more agitated and frantic instead slowing down and weakening? it makes sense that they might but i've never personally seen it. plus he's somewhat acting like the last wild caught i had that, shortly after he was contained, became incredibly stressed and jumpy and died. but i've kept this one since he was pretty young and he's always been fine. If it's not due to aging and is just stress, should i just let him go? or do you think he's just getting close to the end and that setting him free won't make a difference? thanks everybody, any opinions or info would be awesome! take care

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

I have noticed that my male creos will get agitated like this the longer they are adults. Also i have noticed with my old chinese mantises is that they clamp one of their raptorial claws and doesn't extend it, get bad at climbing, lethargic, then dies.

 

[xxdreamchas3r913]

k thank you! yea, it was out of nowhere so i'm assuming age has something to do with it. i decided to see if he would still mate or if it would make him a bit better but he couldn't focus on the female for more than a few seconds before he would notice some kind of movement from me or in his environment and spread his wings again. he stopped eating too..i just let him go hopefully freedom will make feel a bit better before he dies. thank you again!

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

No problem, i think you did the right thing on just letting him go to finish his life on his own.

 

[xxdreamchas3r913]

thanks again for the info! i just hope he didn't already get eaten or something don't know how well he can survive in that state. i guess my thread was asking a pretty pointless question since no one answered LOL but thanks for being awesome and taking the time to fill me in despite my noobishness. =) take it easy dude

 

[hibiscusmile]

I find that hips go, still want to eat, seeing not bad, hearing non existant, uses the bathroom a lot, sleeps most of the time.... Oh sorry, you ment the mantis! :tt2: sorry! I kill me!

all above advice is good, I like to put them on a plant for end of life period, sometimes putting outside when they are not used to it is hard on them as they are in unfarmier territory. ps ( wheres my spell ck?)