Mantid Moulting

[AndyWatt]

Hi,

What would stop a mantis from moulting?

I have several pseudocreobroter whalbergi, five have them have moulted four or five times, however the one in question has only shed twice and his/her last moult was nearly a month ago.

He/She is still eating no problem, catching fruit flies and eating small crickets, even though he/she has only one raptorial arm. He/she hatched with only one raptorial arm and the other a 3/4 length stump.

Maybe the nymph was just the runt of the ooetheca, who knows.

Maybe he/she will never moult and stay very small for the rest of it's life.

Anybody any ideas?

Cheers

Andy

 

[Asa]

A mantis will molt, no matter what. How quickly they molt is dependent on temperature and humidity, although even in one species the growth will vary.

 

[AndyWatt]

I agree that Mantises moult at different rates, however all of the pseudocreobroter whalbergi are kept at the same temperature and the humidity is fairly even between all of the pseudocreobroter whalbergi housing.

Especially coming from the same ootheca and hatching at nearley the same time, I wouldn't expect the mantis to be three / four moults behind.

By the time I get home from work today, it would have probably moulted that's what normally happens

Andy

 

[Asa]

Some just do that...I guess... 8)

 

[OGIGA]

I think that one is defective.

 

[Asa]

Poor defective little runt...

 

[Butterfly]

I have a chinese thats 2-3 sheds behind his ooth mates, and a few of my Stagmomantis's were behind. Now I think it's just that 2 might be males since theyre smaller.

 

[Asa]

Oh yeah, I forgot the g.ender differences. (Sorry, don't know if its going to block that.)

 

[colddigger]

gender

 

[colddigger]

also,

tape could stop molting

 

[AndyWatt]

Tape? Was that a joke, oh that was funny !!!

I was thinking maybe it was a male due to it's small size. However some of the other ones I mentioned earlier are also males and have been molting fine, in fact the all seemed to have molted in advance of the females.

Well, it will either Moult or not I suppose. I am not going to worry about it as I have many Mantids to take care of, just not had a mantis stop moulting before, apart from the ones that have died.

Thanks

Andy

 

[AndyWatt]

OGIGA was right, the mantis was defective

I found him on his back with his legs in the air. However, he took a cricket with him, the back end of the Cricket was still attached to his forearm.