Molting crysis

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C.way

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hi all, one of my new recruit, a Hierodula sp. having a molting problem, due to a lack of space at the moment, I place it in a small Styrofoam cup, which is about twice the height of it, when it molt today, the body has reached the bottom of the cup but some part like the legs and fore arms are still yet to molt, seeing such condition, I tried out manual molting, holding parts of the dried skins, it was a success with it's legs, but the fore arms are still stucking with the old skin, what can I do now??? And also how long does a mantis usually took to molt? thanks

 
hi all, one of my new recruit, a Hierodula sp. having a molting problem, due to a lack of space at the moment, I place it in a small Styrofoam cup, which is about twice the height of it, when it molt today, the body has reached the bottom of the cup but some part like the legs and fore arms are still yet to molt, seeing such condition, I tried out manual molting, holding parts of the dried skins, it was a success with it's legs, but the fore arms are still stucking with the old skin, what can I do now??? And also how long does a mantis usually took to molt? thanks
Usually the head, thorax and forearms come out first. So if the forearms are still stuck, you might try slowly taking off the old skin using a toothpick or something. If it doesn't come out or you're not extra careful, then I'm sorry to say that the mantis can't really make it. Hierodulas usually have no issue with molting especially if they're native to S.E. Asia. This problem is definitely caused by a lack of space.

 
update, most likely going to lose it, added some water and the skin turn soft, taken out the skin, the fore arm seems to be "died", the legs are all bend, body-hunchback

 
It's hard to say. I'm thinking that if it can still climb, it might still make it but you'll have to hand-feed it from here to the next molt (assuming that the next molt will fix things). Other than that, it's not going to make it.

 
it has difficulty on moving, but still alive...a miracle...well, since such incident happen, I'll try out ntsees suggestion then ^_^

 

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