Looks like its chest exploded

[H20Dynamo]

I've had a orchid mantis for quite a while now and everything was going great. She was eating fine, molts always went well, etc. But then I woke up a couple days ago to notice she was barely hanging on to the mesh of her enclosure. When I came back home later I found her on the ground trying to muster enough strength to walk. Honestly i would have done something but I had no clue of what to do. What gets really weird is that I found her dead with no top half and hairy stuff coming out of her body. I took the hairy stuff out of her body with tweezers to see what it was but I still do not know. If anyone could tell me what this is I would very appreciate it thank you.

 

[Ranitomeya]

Did you leave uneaten feeders such as crickets or roaches in the enclosure? If she was too weak to escape or fend off opportunistic prey items, they'll easily overpower her and devour her.

 

[Sticky]

I hate crickets! They are such evil things.

 

[Serle]

I just froze out my last few , I dislike them as well.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Something is ugly there. The cricket will eat them, said so many times. So sad.

 

[spotsy99]

That is so sad! Now I know to beware. 

 

[Barlon]

I've had a similar experience with one of my mantises, I left no prey in the enclosure so I was confused at first, so I removed everything from the enclosure to discover a grub/maggot creature which turned out to be larvae of a parasitic wasp which must have managed to insert an egg into my mantis through the roof of my enclosure likely through the small vent holes.

 

[KevinsWither]

Hairy stuff is probably mildew. In the future, I would watch all feeders and remove any unwanted ones, as they can turn the tables on mantids.