mildly interesting observation

[nympho]

one of my mantids had a bad moult so I fed it to another one (like you do :twisted: )

I offered up one of its legs first but instead of chomping on it like u would expect it started cleaning it just like they do with their own legs. weird

other people have said they have seen mantids eating their own legs although ive never seen this myself. it seems their legs may have a smell, texture or some other signal that tells them to go into cleaning mode, and it goes wrong sometimes.

 

[Isis]

I say that in most cases cuttin off deformed legs is stupidity.

If they are no threat to mantis they can be left and after a succesful next mold they become perfectly normal!

Cheers,

Marzena

 

[Johnald Chaffinch]

true, but a bad moult can be worse than just a deformed leg.

you could try feeding the bad moulter it's own body parts, see how far it gets :twisted:

last time one went terribly wrong i stuck it in the freezer straight away. i was told this was the most humane way of euthanizing them. but thinking about it the best way is probably stamping your foot down on them as fast as possible

 

[braidsta]

jesus :shock:

what a first post to stumble upon!

well better go introduce myself.

 

[FieroRumor]

Heh, it cleaned the leg instead of eating it... that's pretty funny!

My mantid with the prostetic legs is still doing well, it has pretty much accepted them, and cleans them the same way as her real ones...