Help! Dying Chinese

[viciousmantis]

She moves in slo-mo. When I try to feed her, she strikes at the food several times but always misses. The only way she'll eat is if you jam the food up her mouth, and even then, she won't grab onto it, just chew it kinda slowly. Her claws aren't paralyzed or anything... :?

 

[robo mantis]

she is old dude 90% of my girls died only one girl left

 

[viciousmantis]

That helps a lot!

 

[robo mantis]

well man that species don't live that long she is very old trust me

 

[Rick]

If this is a wild caught chinese she did pretty good to live unitl mid December. It does sound like she is getting old. They just slowly waste away. They will start falling a lot and moving more slowly.

 

[viciousmantis]

Yeah, she kept falling off of her stick and collapsing on her plastic log...

She died this morning, and she was my last mantid. I catch all of my mantids wild, and I caught her in August.

 

[ponchot]

Sorry to hear you lost one viciousmantis.

Mine is in the same shape as yours. She is so slow

now, I leave her cage open & she now resides on

the lid (to avoid her from falling inside of cage). She

only moves a few inches a day. She however still

eats very well every other day. The great part about

her staying on the lid, the crickets I give her run

around lid edge repeatedly until she catches them.

She moves like a 98year old...until feeding time,

and then she still has a LOT of spunk!

After great difficulty though, she laid her 4th Ooth

today! I provided some twigs on the cage lid, but close

to ground since she falls a lot. She has been trying to

get into position on & off over the last 2weeks. She

finally got a good spot last night & after about 20hours,

she laid her Ooth. Suprisingly a bit bigger than Ooth #3.

I 'm happy she has made it this long. I'll most likely

put her down after Christmas. I raised her from the

Ooth, born around May10th. Heres a pic of Juliet:

 

[TheVesper]

Sorry to hear you lost one viciousmantis.Mine is in the same shape as yours. She is so slow

now, I leave her cage open & she now resides on

the lid (to avoid her from falling inside of cage). She

only moves a few inches a day. She however still

eats very well every other day. The great part about

her staying on the lid, the crickets I give her run

around lid edge repeatedly until she catches them.

She moves like a 98year old...until feeding time,

and then she still has a LOT of spunk!

After great difficulty though, she laid her 4th Ooth

today! I provided some twigs on the cage lid, but close

to ground since she falls a lot. She has been trying to

get into position on & off over the last 2weeks. She

finally got a good spot last night & after about 20hours,

she laid her Ooth. Suprisingly a bit bigger than Ooth #3.

I 'm happy she has made it this long. I'll most likely

put her down after Christmas. I raised her from the

Ooth, born around May10th. Heres a pic of Juliet:

She's gorgeous. Must be hard losing bugs u hand raised.

 

[robo mantis]

she is very fat to

 

[sk8erkho]

Dudes.

Very sorry to hear about your China Ladies. My nephew caught one late in September and she too has begun to fall a lot. I am new to rearing her mantis although she is our third. We released the last one because of inexperience. This time when I returned from vacation to fine her here, he, my nephew, had just freaked out when her first ooth hatched and tossed the remaining three in the trash and I salvaged what was left. :roll: I look at the hatchlings now at L2 and would like to know how long is the life span on these little guys and compared to other species which ones tend to have a longer life?

 

[ponchot]

Update on my Chinese Mantis, Juliet.

I had to put her down Jan 4th. She was just a

few days shy of 8months! I was suprised she

did so well for that long. She slowed down quite

a bit over the last 2months but was still healthy.

The friendliest bug I've ever met!

However, on her 5th ooth attempt....she just

couldnt do it. After about 2days of trying, she

was about to burst & I could tell she was near

the end. I used the freezer method & took her

outside for her final resting place. Im anxious

to raise her "kids" this spring (4 ooths).

 

[ponchot]

Final pic of Juliet with her 4th Ooth: