Mismolt :( need help

[rantology]

This morning I woke up to find Sunny trying to molt and she seemed to have gotten stuck in her skin on the way out (her abdomen was looking noticeably pinched) so I waited about 10 minutes and when she's made no progress herself I started getting really worried, so I tried to help her out of some of the pinched/stuck parts. I managed to help her to hang upside down on a pair of tongs but she doesn't look so good.... she doesn't seem to be able to lift or move her front forelegs and her abdomen is at a bit of a strange angle.. https://i.imgur.com/ts0rvVM.png The skin on the end portions of her forelegs also never came off.

Is there anything else I can do? Is this salvageable? :*( Is she in pain?

 

[Connor]

She looks ok to me... she probably just needs to regain some strength. Give her some water or honey and let her be for a couple hours.

 

[rantology]

I tried to give her a drop of honey... she's having trouble keeping hold of the tongs and seems pretty weak. She doesnt seem to be able to move her front half much, if at all (especially her forelimbs- they are just completely limp). I am gonna keep helping her keep hold of the tongs and hope you're right and she just needs a bit of recuperation time... 

 

[Ocelotbren]

It's possible she's just trying to minimize movement while she dries.  I'll have my fingers crossed that she comes out okay after some time to rest!

 

[rantology]

She didn't make it :/ I was too bummed to even post anything last night. I spent all day and part of the night yesterday trying to help her stay on the tongs and she just gradually lost strength/got worse. Her front half seemed nearly completely limp/paralyzed and she ended up losing half a leg by the end of the day... I felt horrible and she seemed to just be suffering...

 

[Connor]

Ah dang I’m so sorry to hear . Did she get completely out of her skin when she molted?

 

[rantology]

Ah dang I’m so sorry to hear . Did she get completely out of her skin when she molted?

She had gotten stuck half-way out so her legs and half her abdomen were getting pinched.... I tried to help free her but it broke the old skin where they usually hang by the butt from... Maybe I should not have done anything, I don't know. It felt like I was damned if I do, damned if I don't... In the future I will probably opt to just leave them alone and let nature take its course since trying to "help" clearly turned out to be disastrous.  

 

[Ocelotbren]

That is one of the toughest parts of this hobby, it seems.  Making that difficult decision to try and help or not.  Whether you do or not, if the outcome isn't good, you feel guilty and like you made the wrong choice.  Don't be too hard on yourself, we only do what we can and there's no way to know if the other choice would have been better.  Sorry for your loss.

 

[Connor]

Yeah it’s really hard to make some decisions in this hobby as sometimes you just don’t know... if that ever happens again just let nature figure things out... she always wins. Absolutely do not feel guilty about it though. Nothing you could have done. Just got very unlucky 

 

[CosbyArt]

Sorry to read she did not make it.

Indeed it is the damned if you do either way situation if they become stuck. Their new exoskeleton is still unhardened and easily stretches, and tears, but sadly will not un-stretch. In which case if the mantis has not fallen I leave them alone and most times they pull through, and any stuck exuviae (shed exoskeleton) they can remove or even shed in the next molt. If they do fall then help is needed as they will not survive on their own in that instance, so any effort is better than none.

 

[cwebster]

Am sorry she didnt make it.