Mostro is sick! Male Ghost mantid. Poisoned?

[sally]

Oh no I shall give u the $ back for the ghost

no way. he was just lost in the mail too long. no worries.

 

[MantidBro]

sorry

:innocent:

Thanks

 

[MantidBro]

so sorry my ghost did also) so sad...

Thank you, sorry yours died too

 

[ScienceGirl]

He died unfortunately, seemed better, but was hardly able to hold himself up today to my surprise...

MantidBro - so sorry for your loss, but excited to hear about your new ootheca hatching! What species?

 

[Digger]

MB - lousy ending to the story. So sorry. Thought you had it there with the antibiotic.

 

[MantidBro]

MantidBro - so sorry for your loss, but excited to hear about your new ootheca hatching! What species?

Thanks. Yeah I'm excited too, they're Stagmomantis Carolina, selling some if you want any

 

[MantidBro]

MB - lousy ending to the story. So sorry. Thought you had it there with the antibiotic.

For real. Thanks. I thought I did too but one day when I woke up he was barely alive, looked thin, had an abnormal bulge. My friend who has a degree in biology said it was most likely an internal parasite

 

[agent A]

For real. Thanks. I thought I did too but one day when I woke up he was barely alive, looked thin, had an abnormal bulge. My friend who has a degree in biology said it was most likely an internal parasite

likely from the mealworms

they eat rotting wood u know, which is how parasites can be transmitted

 

[MantidBro]

likely from the mealworms

they eat rotting wood u know, which is how parasites can be transmitted

Damn. I stopped giving them crickets because my last mantid got infected by one. Now meal worms, too! What the heck!!

Flies from here on out.

 

[ladygigi]

MB,

For what it's worth, these exactly are the symptoms Nikki Mantis had just before she died. Just g-d dam awful. Her vomiting and runny poop began shortly after I fed her a mealworm. But because of her advanced age, I can't be sure it had something to do with the worm. Although, I will say the mealworms (Pet Smart) had not been gut loaded. If it comes from a store, it should be thoroughly gutloaded with pure clean high quality food. My feeder crix have been given Flukers for a long time with no ill effects to the crix or mantids. NOT the orange stuff. The gold/amber/pee-colored gel.

Nikki's excretions (particularly from the back end) reeked horribly, so I know there was a systemic breakdown of some sort. Discounting Nikki's advanced age, the only variable was feeding her that mealworm. Sounds like you have an optimum environment. Only (only only only) distilled water. Fully-gutloaded feeders (at least 48 hrs). No chemicals or cleaners within miles of the habitats --- this is **especially** important for products like 409, Fantastic and cleaners like them. These have an instantly lethal affect on any arthropod.

I very much hope Mostro can survive this.

Digger

Uh-oh. . . :blush: I just cleaned the glass doors of the terrarium with Windex yesterday (or the day before). :nuke: I sprayed the Windex onto a paper towel (not on the glass) and did that across the room, then walked over to the terrarium and wiped down the glass doors. I did not close them until they were dry. The terrariums' entire top is a screen, so there is lots of ventilation. Will my mantids be okay? None of them are more than a 2nd or 3rd Instar. If they are to get sick from it, would I have noticed it by now? What should I look for?

 

[ladygigi]

Mealworms and superworms are not something I would suggest as a staple diet. They are something that is best reserved as a a treat. I've found the chitin levels can can be hard on tiny mantis stomachs.

I have to agree with you Kriss. When Tartan, my lizard was still alive, I was told not to give him more than one superworm a month because they had such high levels of potassium. So, if my lizard, 2 or 3 times the size of a mantis, can only eat one superworm a month, then that kind of gives me an idea of how much I would want to give them to a mantis. . .

 

[Sticky]

Uh-oh. . . :blush: I just cleaned the glass doors of the terrarium with Windex yesterday (or the day before). :nuke: I sprayed the Windex onto a paper towel (not on the glass) and did that across the room, then walked over to the terrarium and wiped down the glass doors. I did not close them until they were dry. The terrariums' entire top is a screen, so there is lots of ventilation. Will my mantids be okay? None of them are more than a 2nd or 3rd Instar. If they are to get sick from it, would I have noticed it by now? What should I look for?

Is vinegar safe to use? Or is it too acidic?

 

[Tony C]

I have to agree with you Kriss. When Tartan, my lizard was still alive, I was told not to give him more than one superworm a month because they had such high levels of potassium. So, if my lizard, 2 or 3 times the size of a mantis, can only eat one superworm a month, then that kind of gives me an idea of how much I would want to give them to a mantis. . .

I wouldn't infer too much regarding nutrition based on herp experience. The presence of an internal skeleton, among other things, greatly changes the equation. As one example, a high calcium diet will kill many insects but is needed for gravid female lizards.