Mantis ate her own hand?

[lazikade]

Title pretty much sums it up...

I woke up yesterday to my mantis missing most of her tibia. I had fed her that evening a DEAD roach, so there's no way the roach ate her arm. She was also holding the roach with the hand that is now gone. I'm 90% sure she just... Ate her own hand. I don't think it broke since it didn't fall off at the joint.

She is quite elderly. She's wild caught and laid her first ootheca on October 23rd. She's beginning to shake and be a bit uncoordinated in her old age (unless this isn't normal??? She's my first mantis) but gets around well, eats, and drinks.

Has anyone else seen this happen? Any ideas why it did?

(Yes, I'm aware she's missing most tarsi on her left arm, it was like that when I found her. Same with the broken antenna.)

 

[jmantis]

Hi Lazikade,

I have had something very similar happen. My Chinese mantis had a bad final molt and it left his feet/legs a bit bent. He decided that he didn’t like bent feet so I woke up one day to find a chewed off foot right next to him!? I’ll attach a photo of the crime scene below lol.

He also ended up with a bent antenna from the molt, your mantis reminds me of him. They absolutely start to slow down due to old age, your lady is a senior citizen now! My suggestion is to ensure she drinks plenty of water and has “senior friendly” decor in her enclosure (sticks that are close to the ground and not at too steep of an angle to climb, etc.).

Mantises will sometimes decide to self amputate if they feel something is wrong with part of the limb. It may have been an internal injury to her Tibia that you couldn’t see that was bothering her. It’s good news that she still has most of her raptorial arm still! Is she able to catch prey?

 

[lazikade]

Hi Lazikade,

I have had something very similar happen. My Chinese mantis had a bad final molt and it left his feet/legs a bit bent. He decided that he didn’t like bent feet so I woke up one day to find a chewed off foot right next to him!? I’ll attach a photo of the crime scene below lol.

He also ended up with a bent antenna from the molt, your mantis reminds me of him. They absolutely start to slow down due to old age, your lady is a senior citizen now! My suggestion is to ensure she drinks plenty of water and has “senior friendly” decor in her enclosure (sticks that are close to the ground and not at too steep of an angle to climb, etc.).

Mantises will sometimes decide to self amputate if they feel something is wrong with part of the limb. It may have been an internal injury to her Tibia that you couldn’t see that was bothering her. It’s good news that she still has most of her raptorial arm still! Is she able to catch prey?

Wow, he was not having it with bent legs!

She's got lots of plants to climb around on and sphagnum moss in case she falls. She's got one little corner of her enclosure she enjoys sitting in and doesn't really try to climb much (and I suspect even less climbing after this now).

I mist near her daily and at least once a week take her out and hold a spoon to her mouth and make sure she drinks. Id do that more often but being handled freaks her out and she drinks at least some from being misted. If she's in a good position I can sometimes give her spoon water without taking her out, but she loves her little corner.

I haven't attempted to feed her since the amputation since she's still full so I'm not sure about her prey catching ability. Luckily she eats prekilled prey just fine and still has one mostly full arm, so I'll at least be able to stick something into her little hands. In the worst case, I'll mush up a roach and feed her it from a spoon. She did attempt to go after my finger when I was poking at and near her after the incident so she doesn't seem hesitant to use her little arms.

Thank you for your input and stories I did not expect to have this old lady so long! I am attempting to hatch and raise her babies so hopefully I'll have some little mantids to care for soon.

 

[Orin]

Maybe it was damaged and broke off?