Mantis in a box - 6 days without water and food. Help.

[Mantis Lady]

Tomorrow i will try to make a video showing the kind of movements it makes when getting food (and not only actually) and send it here (if there's such an option).

then we can see how the little mantis is doing.

 

[Predatorhousepet]

For most of the time it lies on its side and don't make any movements. However often when it's getting feeded it energeticly moves all its legs, most likely trying to get up, but without our help it's very difficult if not impossible. The "tips" of the legs seem to be paralized to me. I also am very disturbed by how they look - seem to have more "knee joints" than there are supposed to be. If it was a human leg, i'd say it looks like it was broken and then badly healed. I hope i'm just overreacting though, my friend claims it doesn't look so bad to him. 

The first picture below was taken yesterday, the legs are clearly visible. The mantis required help to get up though. Also even though i haven't seen it with my own eyes my friend claims that it's capable of walking on a very small distance, which usually happens right after or at time when it gets feeded. But still - for most of the time it lies down at its side.

Well, the contact with this man was already very limited. He wasn't kind enough to inform us about sending the package nor to respond when we emailed him all worried. I don't think he would be kind enough to give us any tips in this situation either. 

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This last picture is encouraging. I just didn't want to give false hope your orchid could molt if it couldn't move at all. If it can stand without being propped up (even if it needed help to get in that position) and move on it's own then there is a possibility it can molt. The fact that it has a good appetite is also a positive sign. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Atlanthyda She definitely looks better! Standing on her own is a great sign of recovery for a mismolted mantis. Good job with her, and good luck!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Atlanthyda]

Hello,

As i promised i took a chance to record our mantis getting feeded. Her behaviour today exceeded  our expectations - she was fighting really hard to get up and actually managed to do it on her own! It might be thank to the new "bedding" she got (a piece of cotton cloth she's laying on) since she really seems to have an easier time grasping on it instead of the plastic lid.

The videos i attached show the whole thing in chronological order. I hope they don't weight too much and will make their way throught.

There's also a picture showing her laying on her side - which is still what she does for the most of the time. As i said, she's only active during feeding (well, at least mostly).

EDIT: sorry for the quality, i couldn't do better!

View attachment 2.mp4
View attachment 3.mp4
View attachment 4.mp4

 

[MantisGirl13]

Wow! She definitely looks much better! Keep up the good work, @Atlanthyda! Good job! What are you feeding her? She definitely looks stronger now. 

- MantisGirl13

 

[Atlanthyda]

Wow! She definitely looks much better! Keep up the good work, @Atlanthyda! Good job! What are you feeding her? She definitely looks stronger now. 

- MantisGirl13

She's getting mealworms and honey dissolved in water three times a day (the honey even more often than that). We are planning to provide her also some fruit flies soon.

 

[Synapze]

She's getting mealworms and honey dissolved in water three times a day (the honey even more often than that). We are planning to provide her also some fruit flies soon.

Fantastic! She looks so alert. ?

Be careful with the mealworms. I've had a mantis die from injuries received from a mealworm bite. Now I pull off their heads before I serve. From what I've been told, this isn't a common problem, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

?

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Have you tried feeding pieces of insects or are you just mixing the bug guts with honey and water? If you feed her pieces of mealworm does she try to take them from you with her arms or do you have to hold them for her the entire time? I know you said the tips of her legs seem paralyzed and the deformity makes it hard for her to get up but how much functionality do her raptoral arms have? Have you tested this?

 

[Atlanthyda]

Fantastic! She looks so alert. ?

Be careful with the mealworms. I've had a mantis die from injuries received from a mealworm bite. Now I pull off their heads before I serve. From what I've been told, this isn't a common problem, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

?

The mealworms our mantis is feeded on now are getting their heads chopped off before too, but good to know for the future! I woudln't have thought that they could be able to bite a mantis so badly ?

Have you tried feeding pieces of insects or are you just mixing the bug guts with honey and water? If you feed her pieces of mealworm does she try to take them from you with her arms or do you have to hold them for her the entire time? I know you said the tips of her legs seem paralyzed and the deformity makes it hard for her to get up but how much functionality do her raptoral arms have? Have you tested this?

At first she was so weak that we haven't even thought of giving her a whole piece of an insect - it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to grab on it so we just feeded her mealworm's guts from a chopstick. So basically the answer is yes, we had to hold the food for her the entire time :c

But since she seems to be getting better we will try to give her a piece of insect in order to see how her arms work. I will keep you guys updated!

 

[Chemz]

(s)he looks better than i thought, and is defiantly trying hard. 

 

[Mantis Lady]

She/he for sure has the will to live. It's a good idea to test her front arms. he'/she needs them to grab stuff. give then the abdomen. is more meat/goo for her/him,

 

[MantisGirl13]

Ok! I have never fed my mantids with mealworms, but whatever you are giving her, it sure is working! Good job, and keep us updated!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Atlanthyda]

UPDATE

Today the situation is still pretty much the same - the mantis lays on its side totally idle for the most of time and gets more active during feeding. We tried to give her a whole piece of an insect but sadly she hasn't shown any interest in grabbing it with her arms. She could only keep the raptors up - which should be visible in the videos (again sorry for the quality). At least she still eats a lot.

I also noticed that one of her legs seem to be entirely broken. I marked the place on a picture below. The other limbs seem to be damaged too but not as badly as this one. Is there a chance it will straighten up (or regrow?) after a molt or should we rather amputate it? Talking about molting, would her raptor arms work more effective or an arm once broken is broken forever? :c 



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[Chemz]

Mantids can heal themselves when they molt but from what i understand (depending on the severity of the injury) it can take several molts before it heals completely. 

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Try squeezing the guts out of the end of the mealworm then put the goo up to her mouth. Even if she can't grab it with her arms she will still be able to eat some if you hold it for her. You can keep the shaking to a minimum by bracing your hand.

Any broken or missing limbs can potentially be fixed in one or more molts. A limb may grow back or it may stay a stunted nub. Don't amputate a limb unless it is an emergency and absolutely necessary, in this case it is not, a cut can introduce bacteria into the wound and potentially kill a mantis. Its better to err on the side of caution and leave it alone. 

 

[Mantis Lady]

When 1 of my mantids was sick I put the goo on a tooth pick and held it before his face. Hold it before his mouth so he can nibble the goo.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Mantids can regenerate legs. She still looks pretty healthy for a deformed mantis! You are doing a good job with her.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Atlanthyda]

When 1 of my mantids was sick I put the goo on a tooth pick and held it before his face. Hold it before his mouth so he can nibble the goo.

Oh i just realised how on this videos it looks as if she wasn't getting to eat anything because of the shaking hand. Don't worry, we were only checking the raptoral arms here. Of course there were more attempts but it would take too long to upload here, especially if on any other videos she would just behave the same (not moving arms). After this she got feeded from a toothpick, as usual. 

Thank you guys for being so supporting and helpful. This means a lot! 

 

[MantisGirl13]

 I am gad you explained that! For an amateur mantis keeper, you are doing something most people would not know the first thing on how to do it: keeping a mismolted disabled mantis alive. 

- MantisGirl13

 

[Synapze]

Thank you guys for being so supporting and helpful. This means a lot! 

This is an opportunity for us to learn as well. Keep up the good work and I hope you decide to become a regular here.