Molting

[Brian Liang]

My Ghosts keep falling off their perch and dying at th bottom of the enclosure when they try to molt. It has happened 3 times already and I'm not sure what's going on (2 were L3s and the most recent was molting into adult). I know when they are trying to molt so I seperate them from the others and stop giving them food. I put a good mech covering in the new enclosure to make sure that they have a good grip and none of them have any issues with their leg/walking appendages. I also mist 2-3 times a day (once when I wake up, once after I come home, and once before going to bed) usually with warm water. So what could I be doing so wrong that's causing them to die like this? I don't even see them when they fall--in fact the last one that died, I simply checked on it the evening where I saw that it was surely going to molt the following day and when I came to spray before bed, it was on the bottom, completely lifeless. He hadn't even begun to molt but when I touched it, some skin starting peeling off. Please provide advice if you can because I'm down to five and one is trying to molt right now...

 

[aNisip]

Place branchea and sticks in there...mainly with rough bark and such...this seems to always work better than any mesh...

All the best

Andrew

 

[dgerndt]

Yes, try natural surfaces. My ghosts always liked to molt from the sticks with rough bark.

 

[Ranitomeya]

Mesh is often made of smooth material. They're probably normally clinging onto the mesh with the aid of Van der Waal's force, but fall off during molting due to the need for something they can lodge their tarsal claws into.

 

[twolfe]

I'm wondering if there is another issue. I have over 200 ghost nymphs in 6 different net enclosures. L1, L2 and L3 molt from the net without any issues. I've had several molt the past couple of days and haven't lost any to mismolts. I have sticks/branches in the net enclosures with the older nymphs, and many do choose to molt from them. So, that is a good to try.

Do you have adequate ventilation? I only mist this species once a day. 2 - 3 times a day sounds a lot if they are in glass or plastic, though I don't know where you live and what conditions are like in your home at this time of year.

Hope the rest do OK for you.

 

[Brian Liang]

I added some sticks with pretty rough bark and one of them tried to molt. I found him at like 9 PM and he had fallen. Luckily, he must have landed upright so I tried to help him. He seemed be pretty weak so I just left him alone to see if he would molt the next morning. After an hour I checked on him and he was weaker then ever and eventually he was barely moving and just twitched him leg and abdomen. In the morning he was dead and my female is going to molt in a couple days too. I really don't know what to do

 

[Ranitomeya]

Most mantids cannot successfully molt in the upright position.

There may also be something else wrong as Tammy Wolfe suggested.

 

[thalassarche]

Yeah, I also wonder if there may be other factors than just problems molting. Has your home been exposed to any pesticides lately? Or maybe their food supply?

 

[Brian Liang]

Has your home been exposed to any pesticides lately? Or maybe their food supply?

No, I pretty sure not. I don't know if it was the misting, but I really hope this stops now because another one is trying to molt now too...

 

[Digger]

Panty hose. Just about foolproof. If they dislodge from that, it's related to nymphocide.

 

[Brian Liang]

I started misting a little lighter (but still like twice a day) and a male molted today! One of his legs looks kinda of dysfunctional now and his wings are a little funny... but he did it!! He turned out pretty weirdly colored too lol. All yellowish/very light green but with a lot of black splotches. Just hope my female makes it through and maybe I'll try again next year if all goes well now that I've learned (the hard way :blush: )

 

[sally]

Glad he made it!

 

[DinehCaveman]

Try cleaning disinfecting your spray bottle, maybe string thick yarn across the top.