In early September I started with 4 L2 Chinese Praying Mantis nymphs. We lost 2 to disease of some kind, one at only about a month old, the other at about 4 months.
The other two seem to have gotten less active over time. They both molted relatively recently into adulthood (1-2 weeks). Neither of them had properly developed wings.
I froze one this morning because it wouldn't eat, molted with its rear legs non-functional and was laying at the bottom of the enclosure with extreme lethargy. Its abdomen also looked deflated, which I hadn't seen before.
The other one has better looking wings and I haven't seen it eat, but I put 4 flies in its enclosure a couple days ago and I can only find 1 left, so I'm pretty sure it's eating.
It has also been very lethargic since its molt and I'm starting to see his abdomen look deflated as well.
Could these mantids be dying of old age even though they just finished molting? They are currently 6+ months old.
The other two seem to have gotten less active over time. They both molted relatively recently into adulthood (1-2 weeks). Neither of them had properly developed wings.
I froze one this morning because it wouldn't eat, molted with its rear legs non-functional and was laying at the bottom of the enclosure with extreme lethargy. Its abdomen also looked deflated, which I hadn't seen before.
The other one has better looking wings and I haven't seen it eat, but I put 4 flies in its enclosure a couple days ago and I can only find 1 left, so I'm pretty sure it's eating.
It has also been very lethargic since its molt and I'm starting to see his abdomen look deflated as well.
Could these mantids be dying of old age even though they just finished molting? They are currently 6+ months old.
