Head tremors? Mantid Parkinsons??

[TheBeesKnees]

Here's an interesting thing: In two of my heirodula girls, and in one of my tenodera males, I've observed a strange behavior where they appear to lose control of their head movements. Their mouths start motoring, antennae flail, and their head shakes and twitches in a manner idendical to what you'd expect from a human with parkinsons. It's like--exorcist level creepy. It doesn't happen too often, but when I do spot it, it's mega unsettling to watch.

Even more creepy yet, they all seem to try and stop the uncontrolled jittering by holding up their raporials and dipping their head down like this:

And they'll hold their own head down like this until it stops convulsing.

These "episodes" only last a few seconds at a time. I know my one hierodula has been displaying this since L3, and she's an adult now. Other than looking really creepy, it doesn't appear to be a symptom of anything that affects their well being. It's clear that they have no appreciation for it when it happens, but otherwise, they appear unphased once it passes.

Has anyone seen anything like this in their mantises before? It almost makes me wonder if there's a parasite going around... But I don't know of any parasite that'd have shaky bobble-headding as it's only present symptom...

All in all, I'm not too worried, but it'd be nice to hear if other people have witnessed something similar in their bugs.

 

[dmina]

Wow .. interesting.. No, I have not seen that.. I am not that experienced.. so again, no help... I am sure it is worrisome. Best wishes for it to be common within the species...

 

[Sticky]

I have seen a wobble to my girls heads as they become old, like a constant wobble you see in an older person. But not anything like what you describe.

What you describe almost sounds like a seizure of some sort.

 

[mantiseater]

ive seen it but never thought anything

 

[MantidLord]

I was wondering if anyone else saw this...I've seen these in multiple species, including my adult budwing female. Also I see it across genders and instars. I'm not sure what it is, but I've never had any health issues with those that did this. I clicked the thread knowing what you were talking about and the image is a nice touch.

 

[TheBeesKnees]

oh, I'm glad to know it just seems to be something that mantises do! It appears only those of us who obsessively watches them (like how Kristen Bell watches sloths) get the chance to spot it!

Maybe it's like a "systems check" procedure or something where they just go through the whole range of movements all at once to make sure everything's running properly... But the fact that it seems the mantis has no real control over it makes it so unsettling to watch haha!

 

[MantidLord]

Yeah it's quite unsettling at first. You even see their mandibles moving for no apparent reason. I like the "system check" idea.