I made this video, hoping to help those who have experienced a mismolt. Ive saved a couple mantids by doing this. It takes a lot of patience and a very watchful eye. Good luck!
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how you may be able to save a mantid that has mismolted
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happy1892
Well-known member
Hey, that is a very helpful video you made there. The mantis on the little girls hand in the video is probably a S. limbata. It might not be good to feed the mantis too much. I was told that overfeeding them can make the mantis fall while it is molting. Mantids do move around when they are about to molt in a few hours and they have a glacous (I do not know the spelling) shine to them. Though they are much more clumsy and have a hard time moving around. By the time they are unable to move and they are not hanging you will have to help them by hanging them yourself with the tap by the legs.
It may not be good to mist too much. It depends on the species. Some species like S. carolina generally do not need misting at all to molt successfully. Say not to directly mist the mantis but to keep the environment in the container a little humid.
It may not be good to mist too much. It depends on the species. Some species like S. carolina generally do not need misting at all to molt successfully. Say not to directly mist the mantis but to keep the environment in the container a little humid.
This video is not just for mantids molting, it's for mantids who can't hang upside down on their own for a molt due to a previous mismolt. So feeding them more wouldn't be a problem because they can't hang upside down on their own anyways. The person will be helping them hang upside down. The mantid won't be in a container either because of this. In my experience it's better to do a quick spray than not to mist at all. It's more likely for a mantid to die from getting stuck in the skin than to die from being misted just once, while they're not even in the container. There won't be much humidity for this reason. It's just to help wet the exuvia (exoskeleton) to soften up so they can slide out easily.
happy1892
Well-known member
Oh, okay. Sorry, I misread that. Still the amount of humidity each species needs to molt will vary.
Yes thats truw. I do mist all of my species once before bed either way. Its never turned out to be detrimental.
happy1892
Well-known member
It could be detrimental for some species I think. Maybe Blepharopsis mendica would not do well with that. Would they?
It can be detrimental if you're excessive about it. But mantid's need to drink, you should mist at least once before bed. I did it with my B. mendica as well, they handled it fine.
happy1892
Well-known member
Great. I see in your signature now that you raised B. mendica.
