More Chinese molting troubles

[-MK-]

Today, I woke up to find what was basically a repeat of the same thing I described in my last post about molting, only the two mantids involved were not the same ones discussed in the previous post. I could tell last night that they would molt soon because they showed no interest in food and were barely moving except for that slight see-saw type motion they do when preparing for a molt. Today, I woke up to find one perfectly-molted L5, while the other was stuck in the old skin, and now has two deformed rear legs.

Since I was expecting a molt, I made sure that the humidity foam pad at the bottom of the cup was as saturated as can be short of being underwater. I also misted the lids, the inside of the cups, and the mantids themselves 2 or 3 times over the course of last night. I don't know how I could have made it much more humid in there. But still, in identical conditions, one molts perfectly while the other goes terribly wrong. :angry:

Is there more I can do, or is this sometimes unavoidable, even in the best of conditions? And does the likelihood of molts going wrong increase as the mantids grow from one instar to the next? This seems to be happening more often than before.

 

[ismart]

Sometimes it just is unavoidable. Even with plenty of humidity. If it's just it's two back deformed legs then it still has a chance to maybe correct itself in the next moult. Don't get discouraged. Even with proper care they can still mismoult from time to time.

 

[Rick]

It happens. I had one of my s. carolinas do it and end up I had to dispose of her. Then a creobroter did it but he made it minus one rear leg and the addition of a hunch back.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Welcome to a large club, MK!

Two days ago, I had 9 giant shield mantids. I had hoped for a sex ratio of 5:4 or 6:3, but ended up with 7 males and two females. The last three, two Fs and a M, molted to adult yesterday. The male was fine, but 1 female mismolted so badly that she was dying when I found her, and the second, though she seems to have perfectly formed wings, has them slightly raised, permanently, which should make mounting by a male just about impossible. I can clip them of course, but I'm not sure that that will work.

I have just put thirty 3rd instar budwings into pots, three to a pot. Those that survive one more molt will get pots of their own, but that still doesn't guarantee a mated pair at the end. Gotta love this hobby!

 

[planetq]

MK-

My P.Chlorophaea nymph had a pretty bad mismolt (while every other mantis molted perfectly)- which resulted in one completely lost leg, and one leg that didn't move.

It was the same situation as yours, it's two hind legs didn't completely come out.

I kept a close watch on it, and the next time it molted it had molting problems again.

(maybe some mantises are just bad molters..I don't know)

So the second time it molted I was right there watching and making sure that it molted well,

and I could already tell that it was having trouble because it was taking waaay longer to molt,

and while it's neck/back was almost completely straightened, the two hind legs were still deeply sunk into it's older molt (bad sign).

So what I did was blew wind to it little by little, which instigates movement out of the mantis, so it will spend more energy trying to wiggle it's way out.

And when it was half way out I helped the legs come out with a tiny pin. I basically pushed the last leg out for it.

Now, in the place of the lost leg, the mantis grew a small (about half the size) dwarf leg,

and to me it seems after a couple molts it will have it's leg back completely!

these just need special care I think,

like making sure you put the feeder somewhere really easy to catch, and making sure it is eating well.

So there is definitely a chance that your mantis can survive.

Once again, just know that if it went through a bad molt once, it can happen again to that same individual mantis.

And make sure you are there to help it out of the situation when that happens!

good luck!

Minkyu

 

[planetq]

Welcome to a large club, MK!Two days ago, I had 9 giant shield mantids. I had hoped for a sex ratio of 5:4 or 6:3, but ended up with 7 males and two females. The last three, two Fs and a M, molted to adult yesterday. The male was fine, but 1 female mismolted so badly that she was dying when I found her, and the second, though she seems to have perfectly formed wings, has them slightly raised, permanently, which should make mounting by a male just about impossible. I can clip them of course, but I'm not sure that that will work.

I have just put thirty 3rd instar budwings into pots, three to a pot. Those that survive one more molt will get pots of their own, but that still doesn't guarantee a mated pair at the end. Gotta love this hobby!

Best of luck with that, Phil!

The magic can happen!

 

[-MK-]

Thanks to everyone for the replies! I stayed up until about 5AM watching these two mantids, but they usually seem to molt when I'm sleeping. I gave them as much care as I could before bed, but I wasn't there at the most important time.

Do they seem to develop new hunting techniques to suit their disabilities? The one with two deformed rear legs could probably eat small crix were he on the floor of the cup, rather than trying to hunt while hanging from the lid by two legs, which doesn't seem to be working well - even with fruit flies.

 

[charleyandbecky]

Do they seem to develop new hunting techniques to suit their disabilities? The one with two deformed rear legs could probably eat small crix were he on the floor of the cup, rather than trying to hunt while hanging from the lid by two legs, which doesn't seem to be working well - even with fruit flies.

I have one Chinese mantis right now that has learned to hunt and eat with not only a short rear leg but also a damaged front claw. I found this mantis outside shortly after a bad molt (I guess...I didn't see the exoskeleton anywhere but he couldn't have done well out there for long in his condition). Anyway...he pins the crickets against the wall of the enclosure and then starts the eating process with his good claw, while using the damaged claw to "balance". I usually place the feeders closer to him so he doesn't have to work as hard but he has done great. I give him smaller feeders than my other mantids his size, but he gets more of the smaller ones. I didn't want him to be overwhelmed by a larger feeder. So far, so good and he seems happy.

Rebecca

 

[-MK-]

Thanks again for the replies, everyone. The mantis with the two damaged rear legs just jumped down (or fell) and tackled a cricket on the foam floor of his cup, so he seems to be adapting ok. Every nymph I've had seems to figure out how to hunt after a bad molt if one occurs. In my experience so far, if they make it past L1, they do fine.

The last of my L4s molted perfectly to L5 the other day, and the two biggest L5s molted to L6 today. They're getting pretty big for their cups now, but that thread will be in the "housing" section.