ID illness

[Domanating]

A couple of years back, in 2007, I found an adult female mantis who looked really really fat. I thought that she would have her ootheca in no time. Unfortunately it never came anything. I'll show you the only photo i have of her (interesting color for an European Mantis btw). As weeks passed she was getting incredibly big, i didn't know what to do, i thought it was normal because i didn't really know how big they could get to have Oothecas. This picture was taken very early, almost a day or 2 after i caught her (Yes i also enjoy Lego very much lol). However she got maybe twice the size in a matter of weeks. She couldn't climb to branches anymore. Her abdomen was so big that she was simply dragging it along the floor. One day i found her almost dead on the cage floor and i noticed some pitch black liquid similar to tar sliding from some of the abdomen spiracles. Unfortunately i don't have any photo to show. On that year i had a chameleon, it was late Autumn and i had problems finding some food for him. Without hesitating much, i put my mantis out of its misery by giving her as food for my chameleon. Fast death.

I read somewhere that overfeeding a praying-mantis can cause deaths such as spiracle blockage but i dont think that this explains the black liquid. If it was the problem then i cannot be sure if i overfed her, I don't remember how frequently i fed her

If someone knows what this might be please share here because i don't want to have another similar case in the future.

 

[Entomo-logic]

Sounds like she could have been egg bound

 

[hibiscusmile]

Yep, thats what happens when they are egg bound, not always, but sometimes, I cut one open one day that was just dead and the black goo spilled out, never forget it, I won't! Personnaly I feel that overfeeding them will be one of the causes of this too, but no proof.

 

[Rick]

In the pic she doesn't look overly fat. FEmales get that big before laying ooths. Most likely she was eggbound.

 

[Domanating]

In the pic she doesn't look overly fat. FEmales get that big before laying ooths. Most likely she was eggbound.

And she doesn't. This was an early taken picture. It was just the beginning. Unfortunately i do not have anymore photos of this mantis that could show the size of her abdomen when she was dying.

I never thought an insect could be egg bound. That's something it would never cross my mind.... Until now.