Mantis not molting

[KevinsWither]

I have a near adult p paradoxa and he doesn't seem to be molting. I heated his enclosure and fed him a lot to try and speed up his maturation for mating. I have used cocofiber on the bottom of his substrate, along with kept him in humidity. Why is he not molting? He keeps flexing his abdomen and sometimes stops it.

 

[CosbyArt]

I have a near adult p paradoxa and he doesn't seem to be molting. I heated his enclosure and fed him a lot to try and speed up his maturation for mating. I have used cocofiber on the bottom of his substrate, along with kept him in humidity. Why is he not molting? He keeps flexing his abdomen and sometimes stops it.

Depending on a few factors the main question being, how much time has passed since his last molt? Mantids take longer to molt generally with each instar, and the last is no exception and tends to take about a month.

 

[KevinsWither]

It has been a solid month from what the date says. It was 9-24-16 when he molted. 

 

[CosbyArt]

It has been a solid month from what the date says. It was 9-24-16 when he molted. 

Sounds like not enough time has passed to me then, as most require at least a month for the molt. In all likelihood if it has been a month now, he will be molting within a week.

 

[KevinsWither]

It has been like a month and when I heated his enclosure, humidity started to shoot up and stuff. Should I put him back under it? 

 

[CosbyArt]

It has been like a month and when I heated his enclosure, humidity started to shoot up and stuff. Should I put him back under it? 

The high humidity from the heat just means your substrate is overly damp, and will need to dry out.

If the humidity is near 70% with the heat on, it needs to be allowed to dry. Ghosts (Phyllocrania paradoxa) as the care sheet shows should be kept below 70% RH, with anything in the 40-70% range being acceptable. As you mentioned heat, the care sheet lists the top range of their heat being 85F.

So if you are 85F or below on heat, and within 40-70% humidity he will be fine; otherwise, you need to modify your heat/water/care to put your mantis into the safe range.