Mantis Religiosa bad leg

[Falconerguy]

I've found a mantis religiosa female (looks like a pre-sub) with a madly mismolted back right leg. I'm afraid that it will affect her future molts in the condition it is in, but I've never encountered this problem before. My question is: "Should I leave it be and hope It'll turn out fine, or should I do a manual amputation of the leg, at the bend, to increase her chances of survival?"

 

[steeve]

I found a Carolina last week with the same problem, except her leg is nowhere near severe and rather looks like she has an extra joint. I'm quite sure I've read posts about mantises molting with just one leg, so hopefully if provided with an easy-to-grip mesh our one-legged bugs should be able to pull it off if securely attached to the ceiling. If the leg was causing serious harm your mantis would probably amputate it themselves; I sort of figure it's easier to let it be and hope for the best. I've been feeding mine a lot in hopes it'll speed up her molt. 

Keep us posted as to how it turns out!

 

[Ocelotbren]

I had a Chinese mantid that fell while molting and both her back legs were mangled, although not as severely as in your picture.  It didn't affect her ability to grip during her next molt.  She got used to the unusual angles and was able to move around and grip fairly well with practice.  Good luck to your mantid!

 

[steeve]

Quick update on my mantis, she molted successfully despite an unusable leg! Looks like she gripped the mesh with one front leg and one back. She did loose the rest of the mangled foot in the process but hopefully it'll grow back from a clean cut like that.

 

[Serle]

Surprizing how well these mantids regenerate themselves , the cut off fo0t may be a bit ambitious to ask for , good chance Steeve ..........   S