Mantis Lost Forearm

[Twitch]

Hey guys,

I apologize I'm really new to all this.

I bought a mantis egg sac from costco and let it hatch in my back yard, I believe they are chinese mantis'. I put one of the little guys in a jar a couple months ago and I've since been trapping flies for him and generally watching as he grows.

I'm not sure what stage he's in, but he is about 2 inches long and I see nothing that looks like wing buds. I've had him in the jar since probably middle June(?), not too sure of the date. He's molted maybe 6 times but that's just a ballpark guess.

This weekend he molted and when he came out one of his forelegs was horribly twisted. It was his left foreleg and it crossed kind of behind and right going underneath his right foreleg, and he didn't seem to be able to retract either of them into the normal 'praying position.' I watched him for a few hours and it seemed like as it was both his forelegs were completely unusable to him. I spoke to someone I ran into online through photography that use to raise mantis' and told me I had to amputate the fore leg that was causing the problems so he would have at least one usable.

Let me digress here for a second. I did not want to do this. I don't know if it was the right thing to do and it almost made me physically ill to do it. I did it with the best intentions of the mantis in mind and did what I thought was best for it given the knowledge I had at the time. I hope I did the right thing, I understand if it disgusts some of you. I have no idea if this is 'standard' 'accepted' or what. Please don't rake me over the coals on this, you won't be able to make me feel worse than I already do about it, I just want to focus on moving forward and doing what is best for the mantis from this point forward.

The forearm was amputated just above the first joint and he can now use his remaining right foreleg fine.

I put a fly in with my mantis for some food and he was having real difficulty catching it so I bought some wax worms (I think?) from a local pet store and fed him one yesterday and one today. Is this an appropriate food for him? How often am I suppose to be feeding him? Before I fed him a fly every other day but I have no idea if that was too much or not enough. They had other types of worms at the pet store, is there a different kind that would be better?

And finally, and most importantly, is there any chance the foreleg will regrow?

Apologies to those I've offended, I hope you understand that I did what I felt was best,

T

 

[idolomantis]

i would say: handfeed it one worm/ cricket a day and dont use to big preys. the leg will regrow if the mantis is still at a low nymph stage. if its almost adult. no chance.

 

[chrisboy101]

i highly doubt the fore arm will grow back to the normal sate

 

[Thorska]

i have a ghost mantid who lost the right forearm to another larger ghost, so much for one of the most communal species

i belive she was L3 or L4 when she lost it, the next molt took almost 2 months to come around which as you might know is a very long time for molts

after the molt there was a tiny forearm that had regrown under the exoskeleton, however it was twisted and practically unusable, since then she has molted once more and the tiny twisted arm had become normal, but still very small, its now usable again and aside from an obvious reduction in striking distance for that arm, she's perfectly happy and healthy, im really hoping that in the next 2 or 3 sheds it becomes normal sized again

so yes, there is a good chance, however, i would say that as your chinese is about 2 inches, and they only grow upto 4 inches at max, im not too sure that the arm will be completely normal again for your little guy, but here's hoping!

oh and by the way, don't beat yourself up about amputating its broken arm, the mantis may have chewed it off himself if he had felt the need too (when my ghost lost her forearm, what was left of it after she was attacked by the other she ate herself, down to the join) which obviously wouldn't have been as quick and clean as you amputating it

 

[riegs22]

Yea, Looks like you gotta feed the little guy from now on. Like said above smaller food and hold it by his arm until he grabs it!

Good luck with him, he should be ok.

 

[Rick]

If the other forearm is fine then he should be able to catch food. I have had more than a few mantids with one forearm and they all managed. Waxworms are not a good food source so may want to change that soon. Also please check out the introductions forum.

 

[collinchang635]

You should probably hand fedd it from now on until his/her forearm grows back. Do not try to feed it prey that is too big.

 

[Twitch]

Thanks everyone for your information and encouragement. I'm pouring over this forum trying to get up to speed on how to best take care of this guy and any future mantids. I've already made several improvements to the little guys house that he seems to be enjoying.

Thanks again,

T

 

[idolomantis]

my hierodula had a paralized forearm once, i handfeed it small stuff, but after the other molt it could use her arm again

 

[Twitch]

Above it was mentioned that waxworms are not a good food source for a manits. Can anyone recommend something else? The pet store had crickets, and several types of worms.

I put a fly in the jar with my mantis just now over lunch and though he tried repeatedly to get it he was unable to, I'm afraid crickets will go about the same way.

T

 

[The_Asa]

Mealworms are a viable option for mantids, but they should not be the only food source used. You can handfeed it crickets with some tweezers. Small moths are easier to catch than flies. You can slow the moths and crickets down in the fridge to make it possible for you to grab the crickets with the tweezers.

 

[rayg]

I just joined looking for an answer to the same question. I just got a hierodula last week and he was missing his forearm. I believe he is in the 2nd instar or maybe third; he just molted. I've seen him catch fruit flies, and he seems to be getting a bit quicker at it. When I first realized he was missing a part of his arm I thought he was a goner, but he can use his good arm just fine. It's good to find out that they can regenerate their limbs. The fridge works

good, I put the flies into the freezer just until they stop moving, maybe five minutes. When they are still waking up he can catch them easily.

 

[Twitch]

I just joined looking for an answer to the same question. I just got a hierodula last week and he was missing his forearm. I believe he is in the 2nd instar or maybe third; he just molted. I've seen him catch fruit flies, and he seems to be getting a bit quicker at it. When I first realized he was missing a part of his arm I thought he was a goner, but he can use his good arm just fine. It's good to find out that they can regenerate their limbs. The fridge worksgood, I put the flies into the freezer just until they stop moving, maybe five minutes. When they are still waking up he can catch them easily.

Thanks for the tip about putting them in the freezer it worked really well. I just put them in the fridge and it left them a little flighty yet but next time I'll use the freezer. Tweezers worked awesome for offering it up to the mantis!

Thanks from me and my mantis!

T