I am getting concerned

[JoeCapricorn]

So, Fortune and Meek have been poised to molt for a while now. I thought they would molt sometime last week. Then I thought they would molt every night. One night I even swore I saw Fortune start apolysis and about to undergo ecdysis, but it was maybe my eyes. I even got up all excited to look at Fortune and Meek, thinking they had molted to adult over night, only to see that they were still not yet molting. It's exciting! But at the same time, it is concerning me.

For one, they stopped eating a week ago. At first I avoided feeding them, then I noticed they still seemed to want to eat (tried to catch my mouse cursor), so I fed them, now they stopped eating again (or I haven't risked feeding them, not sure what that would do)

Fortune (or Meek, not sure who in this picture) looked like this a week ago:

Fortune now looks like this:

So yeah, there is a definite difference between now and then. Angel is now looking like what Fortune did a week ago. Kit is also close to molting to sub-adult, but she's not "behind schedule" if there even is such a thing in mantises... lol

Also, Meek looks a bit like Fortune only paler.

But I read a thread where some mantises got stuck in pre-sub for three months until their temperature was raised. The only thing I can do about that is leaving my computer on, since my room should naturally get warmer today anyway (High of over 70, WOOOOO! Up to 80 degrees this week too!)

And for Fortune and Meek, I think it has now been at least 4 or 5 days since they last had a meal. If they don't molt tonight, should I try feeding them, or could that hurt them? I leave them alone as much as possible except to open their container to spray.

Would it hurt or help to put them out in the sun (by my window) for a bit? The sun shines directly in my room early in the morning as my window faces east.

It's a lot of questions, but Fortune and Meek are about to be my first adult mantises that I had raised from babies! I just want everything to go well. For Fortune and Meek, it has been 27 days since their last molt. For Angel it has been 23 days. For Kit it has been 25 days. Before this cycle, the longest molt time was Fortune and Meek, either 24 or 25 days between L4 and L5. Last cycle was 21 days for everyone except Kit, who was 22 days.

I know it is normal for successive molts to be longer than the last one, although that pattern hasn't been followed by any of my mantises - Angel had 13 days between L6 and L7, and Nereid had 13 days between L5 and L6. Is there a point where I should be worried? Can a mantis get stuck before almost molting to adulthood? I have seen this in grasshoppers, a few were sub-adult all the way until November and even had bulged wings.

 

[massaman]

There is really nothing to worry about just keep watching them and make sure nothing will be in the way to stop them from molting and that they have places to hang from if they decide to molt upside down and avoid keeping food with them when molting to avoid them mismolting and dying!

 

[hibiscusmile]

ditto :tt2:

 

[Peter Clausen]

Do you see the difference in thickness of the wing-buds? The wings are forming within the more recent photo, while they appeared thin in the first photo. This is progress and the time is very near. So up that humidity and provide both a vertical and horizontal textured surface! The mantis may choose to shed from the top surface, but its wings may dry incorrectly if it isn't able to reposition itself on a side surface (wall).

 

[JoeCapricorn]

I have one wall covered with paper towel, the top covered with paper towel and the bottom with paper towel.

Also, I tried feeding Meek and Fortune. Meek took two crickets and ate them *ravenously*, Fortune refused all food although he took a cricket, took a few bites, then dropped it. Fortune is much closer to molting than Meek.

Kit molted to L9. She is now a sub-adult. It's too early to tell if it is a perfect molt, she was found on the bottom, but she looks ok except her antennae seemed a bit wonky, but even then they straightened out a bit. Damn, she is beautiful though, the length of Angel, but much wider, bigger head, bigger paws... awww!