Mantis tragedy :(

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So I had an adult male and adult female Stagmomantis Limbata. I decided to try and mate them yesterday. I put the male and female into a large aquarium and then fed the female a cricket. The male shortly jusmped on her back and they succesfully mated for most of the day. I left them together overnight. I checked on them this morning and was pleased to see them separated and the male was still alive! So I urged the female onto my hand so I could put her back in her container. While I was holding her she crawled off of my hand and fell to the floor. Well her abdomen was so big and heavy that as soon as she landed her abdomen busted open and her guts were coming out. I had to freezer her after that.

I feel so horrible!

Here are some pics to remember her by

 

[lancaster1313]

I am sorry to have read that. She was beautiful.

I have heard of that happening before, and am nervous when handling fat mantids. I usually bring my fat girl's containers over to my bed before opening them because sometimes they can be jumpy. I have had a few close calls when I have tried to breed females for their first time, they have freaked out and done some running and jumping away from the males until they realized what was going on.

 

[more_rayne]

D'oh, so sad

 

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I will be much more careful next time

 

[xbonny]

it happens when I've taken my male of Sybilla pretiosa and he jumped under my wardrobe. I felt in pain, 'cause he was my only male. Luckily there was a spider web and it stopped my male :lol:

 

[GreenOasis]

RIP Pretty Girl!

So sorry...that happened to me with my old Mio girl just the other day, so I know just where you're coming from!

On the slightly brighter side, I have a limbata ooth recently laid by one of my girls, so I hope to have some babies available in the Fall! (Small consolation right now, I know.) :mellow:

 

[Findarato]

I am sorry too, understand your loss ver well!

My Giant asian female (one of 4) fell from my hands too to the floor of her enclosure, and she now has a wound at her abdomen. It happens so quickly one cannot react, she jumped away from my hand. Guess they are more clumsy when being so fat. Mine is still alive though, although she has been bleeding a lot. But she eats still and it happened 3 days ago. Maybe I was just lucky. She was also mated and should lay her first ooth, but takes her time with that. Can a mantis live 2 months without producing a single ooth. She is really fat at the moment. The wound did not seem to affect her much, and she is very due to lay her first ooth. (adult since end of february, which is strange, the other females have all laid their 1. ooth).

 

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I'm glad I am not the only one to have this tragedy happen. I don't think I could have saved my female, a lot of her guts came out when she landed. She was still moving around like nothing happened after that, that is why I felt so bad putting her in the freezer. I didn't want her to suffer, I know insects don't feel pain but still...

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Wow, I had never heard of a female rupturing from a fall. I'm so sorry for your loss. That must have been a very tough thing to witness.

I've had a couple of my girls fall from 5-6feet while free roaming my room without injury although maybe it was the carpet that saved them? I also tend to keep my girls far skinnier than most in the hobby seem to do so that might also have also played a part. Thank you though for posting this. I'll have to make sure I handle my girls even more carefully now.

On another note, I wonder if super glue could potentially save a mantis suffering from a minor rupture? I know Tarantula owners have found it useful in their hobby though I have never heard of anyone using it on a mantis.

 

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Her abdomen was HUGE. I didn't feed her that much either, I just think she was ready to lay. The room that they are in was not carpeted unfortunately. At least we can learn from this tragedy.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Some species seem to carry the weight better than others. It is probably related in part to ooth size. Even on a mild diet my Chinese girls would still get pretty huge right before laying because they lay such massive stinkers. I've noticed my long neck girls however don't seem to get near as ungainly. They also tend to lay smaller dainty egg cases.

 

[wyethia]

So sorry to hear about your loss. Thank you for posting it here though, maybe you'll save another of us from doing the same thing. What a beauty

wyethia

 

[Termite48]

Leeann: I am sorry about your recent mishap with the mated S. limbata lady. That is really a shame. I am also sorry that my favorite L-5 Ghosty is sick and I am trying to nurse her back to health. I found her on the bottom of her cage and she seemed so dehydrated with all the others in the same cage doing just fine. These insects keep us honest, don't they. I hope you soon find a replacement for your dead female.

 

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Thanks everybody