My mantis on his what I believe to be 5th molt (male chinese mantis) fell from the top of his cage mid molt. There were a few tiny pinhead crickets in the bottom, and I took the judgement call to pick him up midmolt to save him as best as I could. I didn't want to try and hang him again so I held him carefully as he molted. He fully molted out of his skin with no leg deformities or anything that I can see. Everything seems physically normal. Yet he is drying his new exoskeleton out while laying against the top of his cage. He isn't holding onto it so he isn't hanging. He's not standing either, just laying down. He is moving, and I haven't seen any signs of distress. What would you say is the next step to take to ensure everything goes as normal as can be after what just happened. Is it possible that after this mishap with his molting everything will go back to normal? As in if I see no signs of physical distress, everything should be fine? A little frantic here, thank you all!
Molting injury
- Thread starter Saebjorn9
- Start date
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Mvalenz
Well-known member
Can you take a pic so we can get a better understanding of how it is? I don't understand how he is laying against the top but not hanging. If he is not disfigured just let him fully dry before handling. I made the mistake of helping mantids out of bad molts prematurely before fully drying and made it worse.
after closer inspection...his left eye has a tiny hole in it or something where a liquid keeps coming out and foring a little droplet. His left raptor, the last segment has an indent in it as well. It isn't looking good for my little dude... if he doesn't pull through tonight and he's still kicking tomorrow, I may just let him pass on. What is the most humane way to end their sufferring? (total last resort...hatched this little guy from an ootheca and he's been great ever since)
Norlin
Well-known member
I think most people recommend putting them in the freezer if nothing can be done for them.
