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tlasorsa

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So, I have raised several chinese mantids from birth until now. I had 5 left which are nearing adulthood, maybe 1-2 more molts until then. I came into my living room and looked at my mantids only to find my favorite one, an aggressive beast with a striking brown coloration, dead, or close to dead, on the bottom of his/her cage. My first reaction was sadness. My next reaction was horror. I noticed that there were several (2-4) very small maggots crawling around a very small hole in the abdomen of my mantis. I couldn't believe my eyes. My wife almost threw up! So, I needed to know what was going on, so I froze the little guy to make sure he passed in peace, then I got out my razor blade to check his abdomen for further infestation. I managed to only spot maybe 5 total maggots. They were really small. I began to logically think about what the heck happened. Sunday night, three days ago, was his last feeding. I fed him the last cricket I had, which was in a container with a small piece of potato. After I dumped the cricket in, I noticed 2 very small flies in his cage as well. I had not noticed them before I put the cricket in, so I assume they went in with the cricket. The only scenario I can think of is this:

1. Some species of small fruit fly infested the potato/cricket container

2. Eggs were laid in abundance on the potato

3. The cricket ate some of the infected potato and took in some of the eggs, undamaged by the feeding process

4. My mantis then ate the cricket, thereby taking in the same eggs, which again remained undamaged by the feeding process

5. The maggots ate heartily for 3 days, and emerged three days later, killing my mantis

HELP! Is this possible? I see no other way they could have gotten in. My mantids only eat what I give them and since the maggots were very small, the infestation must have come from the recent batch of crickets. Is it possible for a mantis to eat very young, small fly eggs and have those eggs not be destroyed by the mandibles or digestive tract? I am so puzzled, thank you for your input! And no, there is no way my mantis was exposed to a tachinid fly. I also do not have the maggots so I cannot see what they were, what was I thinking!!!!!

 
mantis was infected with a parasitic fly more or less I think so it had to be a parasitic fly as never heard of a mantis dying from fruit flies or the parasitic flies laid eggs on the potato or the crickets!

 
I don't think it's possible for a maggot to make it through the digestive tract of 2 creatures still intact enough to do any damage. As massaman said, it's probably some parasite that snuck it's way in somewhere along the way. Sorry to hear that. Super suck!
sad.gif


 
It takes no time at all for a fly to lay eggs and hatch, that is all that happened, it could of already been sick and the flies may have laid on its underside before it died too.

ps, I think I will have my coma now:huh:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
They were most likely not injested. Is the mantis wild caught? If so there is your answer, parasitic fly. If the mantis is not wild caught, most likely it died and a fly laid eggs on it which is what flies do.

 
Rick said:
They were most likely not injested. Is the mantis wild caught? If so there is your answer, parasitic fly. If the mantis is not wild caught, most likely it died and a fly laid eggs on it which is what flies do.
Click to expand...
It was raised from birth by me, and never exposed to the wild. Also, the theory that flies laid eggs on the mantis after it died does not make sense because the mantis was alive earlier in the day. In fact, I believe it was alive even when I found it with the maggots crawling out of it. It was twitching and would move its legs a little. That is why I froze it before I dissected it. So, the worms had to be "taken in" if I assume there was no external damage that provided an entrance for a parasite. It just seems strange that this could happen when he has always lived in my house, where the heck did this parasite come from? I think the likelihood of a somewhat rare parasitic fly finding its way into my house, then into the cage, with our house being buttoned up all the time is very small. If there was a small damaged area in the abdomen, which exposed a small amount of fluid, could ANY type of fly lay eggs at this location? Not necessarily a parasitic fly, but any type of house fly, fruit fly, etc? Could basically any fly eggs thrive in that stomach fluid? How long would it take for the fly eggs to become the tiny maggots I found? These maggots were really small. I am now wondering if the yellowjacket I placed in the cage the day before stung the mantis, and provided a tiny hole that I could/did not see. The mantis tried to grab the wasp several time, but could not. I walked away for a couple hours, then came back and my wife said she thought the mantis was acting scared of the wasp, so I released it. And no, this was not a parasitic wasp. That would have been about 24 hours from the time the mantis was exposed to the wasp until emergence of the maggots.

 
Well if u think about it, when a wound is open even a tiny bit and a fly can land there and lay its eggs, then maggots will result, it happens all the time.

 
mantisnewbie said:
It was raised from birth by me, and never exposed to the wild. Also, the theory that flies laid eggs on the mantis after it died does not make sense because the mantis was alive earlier in the day. In fact, I believe it was alive even when I found it with the maggots crawling out of it. It was twitching and would move its legs a little. That is why I froze it before I dissected it. So, the worms had to be "taken in" if I assume there was no external damage that provided an entrance for a parasite. It just seems strange that this could happen when he has always lived in my house, where the heck did this parasite come from? I think the likelihood of a somewhat rare parasitic fly finding its way into my house, then into the cage, with our house being buttoned up all the time is very small. If there was a small damaged area in the abdomen, which exposed a small amount of fluid, could ANY type of fly lay eggs at this location? Not necessarily a parasitic fly, but any type of house fly, fruit fly, etc? Could basically any fly eggs thrive in that stomach fluid? How long would it take for the fly eggs to become the tiny maggots I found? These maggots were really small. I am now wondering if the yellowjacket I placed in the cage the day before stung the mantis, and provided a tiny hole that I could/did not see. The mantis tried to grab the wasp several time, but could not. I walked away for a couple hours, then came back and my wife said she thought the mantis was acting scared of the wasp, so I released it. And no, this was not a parasitic wasp. That would have been about 24 hours from the time the mantis was exposed to the wasp until emergence of the maggots.
Click to expand...
Very doubtful it was injested. Doesn't work that way usually. Were there any bits of food in the bottom of the enclosure? It is possible you had a leftover dead cricket or something in there that had maggots in it. ONce the mantis died the maggots went to the mantis body.

 

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