Just when you think you've seen it all

[minomantis]

I've been raising Chinese mantids for a long time and I've seen a lot of interesting things involving them. So as some of you may know, my female mantis Azura laid an egg case on an indoor plant late August and during a two week period of really cold weather, the heat was on full swing and the egg case was right by the heaters so it hatched. (silly mistake on my part)

I tried to save as many as I could because this was the last thing I expected (raising mantids during fall and winter). I managed to save 10 and they are all on L3. The thing is I have them in 32oz cups and they are doing fine except 3 of them while molting couldn't seem to get their back legs out of their old skin. I don't think it was a humidity issue because the paper towels were all wet.

I think it was the substrate at the top. It's not wire but like paper mesh bug lids if that makes sense. Has anyone had issues with your mantids molting from them. The other 7 molted the same way and were fine but the 3 all have the same problem, messed up back legs. I'm sure they'll be able to molt them back with good food, but I'm curious if anyone has had this problem. Thank you.

 

[MantidBro]

I've been raising Chinese mantids for a long time and I've seen a lot of interesting things involving them. So as some of you may know, my female mantis Azura laid an egg case on an indoor plant late August and during a two week period of really cold weather, the heat was on full swing and the egg case was right by the heaters so it hatched. (silly mistake on my part)

I tried to save as many as I could because this was the last thing I expected (raising mantids during fall and winter). I managed to save 10 and they are all on L3. The thing is I have them in 32oz cups and they are doing fine except 3 of them while molting couldn't seem to get their back legs out of their old skin. I don't think it was a humidity issue because the paper towels were all wet.

I think it was the substrate at the top. It's not wire but like paper mesh bug lids if that makes sense. Has anyone had issues with your mantids molting from them. The other 7 molted the same way and were fine but the 3 all have the same problem, messed up back legs. I'm sure they'll be able to molt them back with good food, but I'm curious if anyone has had this problem. Thank you.

Thats happened to mine too, adding humidity seemed to help, maybe the delis are too tall so the humidity doesnt reach em when theyre way up there? does it seem moist in the entire cup or just the paper towel? might be too much ventilation since they are on the lid where all the air is comin in

 

[mantisman 230]

That species has that habit quite frequently.

 

[Ranitomeya]

I've found that the fibers of the fabric of vented lids come loose over time and that can cause mantises to fall during and after molting, but if they're remaining attached to the lid and still mismolting, it's unrelated.

I'm inclined to agree that the mismolts are most likely because they're molting on the lid and that the air at the top would be closest in humidity to that of your house. You have to remember that water molecules are heavier than most molecules in the air and without a breeze, would diffuse upwards in a much slower manner than other gaseous molecules. Picture what happens when you place dry ice into water. The white vapor being released is not carbon dioxide, but water molecules originating from the water the dry ice was placed in. The vapor tends to hug the ground and diffuses upwards slowly. Of course, this example is a little different since the water vapor is heavier than individual gaseous water molecules, but the idea is the same.

Another factor to think about is that because your house is so dry due to the use of the heater, any moisture nearing the ventilation holes will have the tendency to very quickly leave the container through diffusion while the rate of evaporation near the bottom of the container will remain relatively low due to the higher humidity at the bottom.