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JoeyRA

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Hello. I have what I believe to be a European mantis? She/he was found in my yard. I wish I would have left her there now. She was doing great for about 3 weeks. Then her eyes started turning black. Then about 3 days ago she molted. Now she looks awful. Her eyes are still black and almost look like a raisin. One of her wings doesn't look like it should. I don't want her to suffer and not be able to eat. I have been giving her water by holding a straw right next to her head. She drinks every time. Check out the pictures. What should I do?

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Did she have a proper place in her terrarium to molt? Like a mesh lid, vertical stick, etc. Also some of my mantids eyes are black too. I don’t think the black eyes mean anything bad. It probably changes colors depending on the amount of light. Mine do that sometimes. 

 
She definitely had a proper place to molt. Her molt was hanging upside down on this fake plant I have in there for a couple days until it fell to the ground. If you zoom in on the pictures I uploaded you will see her eyes and how abnormal they look. Or is this not as big of a deal as I think it is? It looks bad to me

 
I don’t know much about the eyes. But I don’t recommend flimsy leafs and stuff. My enclosures are fully sticks and mesh. But plants are fine, but flimsy hanging leaves can cause the mantis to fall during a molt. It’s happened to me before. (Especially if the mantis is fat)

 
I would put a mesh fabric on the lid to provide better grip, for one. Two, do her eyes look shriveled, or just dark and smooth?

Have you been keeping her in a darker area than usual? 

Is her behavior any different? Is she still moving normally and eating/drinking normally? Is she sluggish, or does she still have the energy she had before?

I agree with @MantisMart that you should use sticks as opposed to flimsy leaves. 

Her wing is fine, it's just a minor mismolt and it shouldn't affect her in any way other than cosmetically. 

 
i have some window screen material that I could cut out and attach that somehow to the top of her enclosure.

Her eyes look shriveled. Very scary looking. I put my finger next to her face and she can't even see it. (or at least she wont follow it when I move it around her head) Can you see the pics I have uploaded? 

She is kept in an area with good indirect sunlight. 

I will remove the leaves off the fake plant so that she has sticks to grab onto instead. 

Also, so she NOT very sluggish. She moves around well and even swats at the straw when I'm giving her water.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ok. Keep an eye on her. Something may be wrong with her eyes, but she should be fine as long as she is eating and drinking well and not sluggish. 

Keep us updated!

- MantisGirl13 

 
thanks MantisGirl13. Will her eyes become better with time? I don't see how she will be able to eat since she won't be able to actually see her prey? but we will get to that when her abdomen gets skinny, right? My girlfriend gave her 4 crickets and she ate all of them. She just drank from my straw. 

 
Probably not. She may be able to sense her food via her antennae, and her simple eyes are still viable. If not, you can always hand feed. Just rip the head off of the prey and hold the body up to her mouth. Once she gets a taste of it, she should grab it from you and do the rest herself. 

You can also mist the cage with a spray bottle to give her moisture. 

- MantisGirl13 

 
oh no. The poor girl.. 😭

Wow, had no idea they had extra simple eyes. In the middle of her head, huh? 

I have a mealworm farm so maybe I can just cut a meal worm in half and use tweezers to feed her the two parts? 

 
Yeah, the ones you generally notice are the compound eyes, but they have three simple eyes between their antennae. 

I'm sure she would love mealworms.

- MantisGirl13 

 
great! Thanks! 

One unrelated question...would I be able to handle her ever again since her eyes are like that? Will she try to fly away? 

 
You can handle her. Females generally don't fly, and she is a European, so her wings aren't even big enough to hold her in flight 

- MantisGirl13 

 
Just an update. She is eating a mealworm as I type this! Just had to chop the head off and squeeze out the guts a little. Thanks for all the help! I have been misting her enclosure to get her more humidity as well. 

 
JoeyRA said:
Just an update. She is eating a mealworm as I type this! Just had to chop the head off and squeeze out the guts a little. Thanks for all the help! I have been misting her enclosure to get her more humidity as well. 
Click to expand...
Awesome! I'm so glad she is eating.

- MantisGirl13 

 

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