Mantis has molted, not sure about her leg!

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loislane

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So our mantis has molted some time in the last few hours. Hopefully you can see from the pic that her rear leg is still connected to her shed exoskeleton. I can't really tell if she's just resting it there or if it hasnt fully come out. Any thoughts? Am I best to just leave her? Especially bearing in mind that I can't get to her without opening the lid that the shell is stuck to.. 

IMG-20181003-WA0004.jpeg

 
loislane said:
So our mantis has molted some time in the last few hours. Hopefully you can see from the pic that her rear leg is still connected to her shed exoskeleton. I can't really tell if she's just resting it there or if it hasnt fully come out. Any thoughts? Am I best to just leave her? Especially bearing in mind that I can't get to her without opening the lid that the shell is stuck to.. 

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What species do you have? Your mantis should be fine; even if his leg is a little deformed, he will still make his next molt just fine. I have a subadult female parasphendale affinis who got her two back legs stuck in her last molt and they are deformed, but she gets around, hunts, and should molt ok.

- MantisGirl13

 
She's a European. We've only had her for just under 2 weeks so this is our first experience of molting!

 
I'm thinking wait 24 hours so her exoskeleton can harden and then see what's going on?

 
Ok. She will be fine, though I agree, you should wait for a few hours to let her exoskeleton harden. She is a beautiful nymph! What instar is she?

- MantisGirl13

 
MantisGirl13 said:
Ok. She will be fine, though I agree, you should wait for a few hours to let her exoskeleton harden. She is a beautiful nymph! What instar is she?

- MantisGirl13
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Thanks ?  I don't actually know, I didn't ask when I bought her from the shop, doh!

 
No problem! How big is she? Where did you get her from?

- MantisGirl13

 
When I measured her about a week ago she was just over an inch so she'd probably be heading towards 1.5 inches long now. I got her from an exotic pet shop just outside London (I'm in the UK).

 
So, she got herself out of her molt fine in the end, but now I'm worried about her not eating... she hasn't eaten since last Friday, she wasn't interested before her molt, and this morning she swiped at a cricket which she either missed or dropped and now she's watching but not trying to catch any food, and if I try to offer it to her she just backs away  :(

 
Ok. I would not leave a cricket in her cage, but she will eat when she is ready, don't worry.

- MantisGirl13

 
Surprisingly they can survive decent amount of time without eating.  I definitely wouldn't leave the cricket in there.  I made that mistake with my first mantis and he sadly was eaten alive by the cricket.  Since then I only feed them under supervision.  I've had younger mantids go 3-4 days without eating.

 
Thanks everyone! I was able to get one of the crickets to go near her and she caught and ate it. I was only worried because with the time pre and post molt she was up to 6 days without food and that felt like a lot! I'm thinking perhaps her home is a little large compared to her and the size crickets and locusts I have for her (especially as she spends 99% of her time hanging from the lid), so I need to just spend a bit more time making sure I get whatever I put in there to crawl close enough so she can see/get it.

 And yes, I did get all the remaining crickets out of there ?

 

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