mantis no more

[womantis]

i raised a few tenodera from the ooth. i kept 4, released the rest. i don't see any of the released mantids in the garden, but our garden is big and lots of yards surrounding us with more bushes/tall grass to hide in.

here's what has transpired:

1. one died at L4, but was barely thriving for some time.

2. one died suddenly at L5

3. one died suddenly at L6

4. my 4 month old adult male (born on 1 April) died suddenly today - no deterioration or signs. a bit lower appetite, but was never had a robust appetite. i don't see any visible signs of disease. the crickets i feed them are healthy and active.

all separate net cages, lots of ventilation, misted, no moulting issues. temperature stable in low-mid 70s.

i am now "mantisless" and can't seem to figure what is contributing to their "sudden death" - super puzzling, frustrating and a bit sad...the funny part is that i lost barely any nymphs - they were easy to raise to subadult and adult...arghhhh..

 

[happy1892]

4. my 4 month old adult male (born on 1 April) died suddenly today - no deterioration or signs. a bit lower appetite, but was never had a robust appetite. i don't see any visible signs of disease. the crickets i feed them are healthy and active.

Weird I think they usually start to deteriorate at that age.

 

[sueb4653]

sorry about your loss

 

[womantis]

thanks sue..i am really bummed!

 

[sueb4653]

well I have extra chinese here if you want them

 

[womantis]

thanks. as you know, we were thinking about getting a female, but now, i want to better understand (if possible) what might be going wrong..

 

[rSon]

Im sorry for your losses. Its frustrating to lose mantids at later instar. Are you buying your crickets from the store?

 

[Danny.]

I stay away from crix but that's just me.

 

[womantis]

yes, buying cricket. i keep them for for about a week to make sure they are healthy and have a good diet, before offering them to the mantids. the crickets are outliving my mantids..

 

[rSon]

the crickets shouldnt be a problem then.

 

[Sneaky123]

Same thing happened to me with an adult female limbata... Just died out of nowhere.

 

[Mvalenz]

Sorry to hear that. I recently had a string of losses as well. Not sure why.

 

[Rick]

Everybody has issues like this eventually. If your care is spot on then nobody can really give you the true reason for the random deaths. Try to disinfect all of your enclosures and tools and move on. Try a different species even.

 

[womantis]

agreed rick - a different species might be a good idea . although there is a reason for the sudden deaths, i don't expect a diagnosis here. simply frustrating that with what i believe is my spot on care, all of the mantids from different ooths have expired at late stage instar or adult. something is awry.

and i realize that (whether founded or unfounded) many will cite crickets as the cause. in any event - too many uncontrolled variables to understand.

this comprehensive forum has taught me quite a bit - perhaps over time, through the collective experiences that folks share, we will continue to learn more about these sudden deaths and other key aspects of mantid rearing. as hobbyists, we hopefully will continue to learn, improve and advance our understanding of the various species of mantids and their care..

onwards and upwards

susan

 

[happy1892]

While I was very stressed out my mantids would not eat mostly just a little and most died. Most or all of my Sphodromantis sp. "Blue Flash" (I have two big or normal sized oothecae and one tiny one!), Stagmomantis carolina (I caught two males and two females outside and found one ootheca but only one female lived and she is healthy and never was sick and the ootheca did not hatch for some reason (I am not going to explane much) and I had many more from an ootheca from a person here and an ootheca from a wild caught female in North Carolina before those four and most of them died because of that reason.) and Deroplatys lobata (most died because of that Sorry Chrisp) have died because they would not eat. I would cry while feeding them so maybe it was the tears or because they smelled stress like bees smell fear? Now my Deroplatys lobata eat well. I am not stressed, only a little bit sometimes.