My Mantis keeps falling

[ginah91395]

I brought a Chinese Mantis inside at the end of October ( I live in Eugene, OR), ight was already an adult. I realize they only live about a year. In the last 2 days, my mantis seems to be having a lot of difficulty staying on any perch, it keeps falling. Today I increased the substrate level to decrease the height for falls, added additional twigs on the edges for climbing from the floor and changed the screen mesh to a little larger screen (it seemed to keep getting his legs stuck in the mesh).

After a fall, I let him climb onto my hand to recover. He clung into my finger, literally wrapped all of his legs around my finger, including his front legs and would not let go...he's never done that before. I'm wondering if the repeated falls and this behavior is indication of head injury or getting close to the end of his life? 

 

[Serle]

hy ginah , sounds like an interesting scenario keep us informed as to her condition ....  S

 

[Jessie]

Mine does that at the end of its life.

 

[CosbyArt]

@ginah91395 Getting their legs caught in the mesh, and falling, are sometimes common as they loose their finer motor controls during old age. It can lead to broken or amputated limbs in the process too, besides the forces of stuck limbs/falls they become more brittle with age. I've experienced it much more in the Chinese (Tenodera sinensis) species than others, by a rather large margin.

It sounds like you have done what you can for habitat safety. If your mantis starts to have issues eating you can try the thumbtack method, or other feeding options.

 

[ginah91395]

Thank you! See in other threads people feeding mealworms, thought I'd pick up a few today to try out. Do think outs bored with crickets...it's still too cold here for flying things for me to catch.

 

[Serle]

As Thomas wrote , I have found that Tenoderas tend to deteriorate more quickly than most other mantids ..

 

[CosbyArt]

See in other threads people feeding mealworms, thought I'd pick up a few today to try out.

Sure some have luck with mealworms, mine though refused them (but my tarantulas love them). Try the mealworms whole, cut in half, and such to see which works for you. Sometimes cutting one in half and offering the mantid the soft mealworm insides at the cut will incise them into eating.

If you have access to mealworms you should be able to find waxworms too, and those often work much better (especially if you allow them to grow to moths, but that is another topic, but I haven't had a single mantid refuse a wax moth).