Just Received a Male L3 Ghost! Is he about to molt?

[MajorManny]

Hi there! So I'm almost brand new to the mantis keeping world and just received my lovely L3 ghost mantis from the awesome Peter Clausen. In order to keep from bothering him with a million of my paranoid newbie questions (since he's definitely done his job---everything came on time and was perfect), I thought I'd ask you guys.

When he arrived, I made sure to get him in his enclosure and mist the habitat a little. Then I offered him a live wingless fruit fly while he was on my finger and he promptly ate it.

After putting him back in, he's been hanging upside-down very still for about an hour and a half. Do you think he's about to molt? If so, how bad is it that he ate beforehand? I just knew he'd been without food for at least two days and wanted to make sure he ate, but now I'm a little worried because I heard something about it being bad to feed a mantis before they molt.

Any advice? Also, sorry for the potato quality picture. I don't have anything but a cell phone camera and the container is a tiny bit foggy.

 

[vulturette]

Ghosts just like to hang upside down not really moving most of the time. They pretend to be leaves after all! If he accepted the fly and ate it readily, he probably wont molt. They tend to stop feeding before a molt. Whenever my ghosts have molted they hold their arms out away from their bodies. Instead of their elbows in, their elbows are way away from their body. I wouldn't worry about your ghost at all

 

[MajorManny]

Thank you so much! He's started moving around more now, so I feel a little silly for worrying so much. I've just never had such a teensy mantis. Just a fully grown African mantis that I took off my friend's hands, so I've never gotten to see a molt.

 

[MantidBro]

I've got footage of a Phyllocrania paradoxa which is about to molt... take a look!

When about to molt, mantids pulse, and you can see them stretching, as shown in this video.

Mantids love hanging upside down. Mine are hanging upside down probably 90% or more of the time, lol.

Eating before a molt is not detrimental. The reason some people say that it's not good is because they fear the mantid may be too heavy and will fall. But mantids are always at their heaviest before a molt. That's the very reason they DO molt! Because they're so fat, they can no longer fit in their exoskeleton. Most species will stop eating before a molt though. But some will eat just moments before.

 

[CosbyArt]

Indeed mantids hang upside down most of the time, and generally hold still...

Also one fruit fly isn't enough of a meal for any mantid either. Hard to judge size in the photo but it should be fed about 6 FF's a day or more depending on size (some keepers list molts differently I've noticed so it may not be valid to go by that).