Non-hungry mantid, getting worried...

[Herp13]

Hey all, my Chinese mantid is not eating. I will get pics up as soon as possible but basically i don't know how old it is(i'm very new to the hobby) and it isn't eating, it only had half a cricket the night i got it(Monday the 7th) and has eaten nothing else since then. Everytime it gets a chance to eat, it seems to "miss" it's prey, or could it be flicking the prey away in preperation for a molt? Right now it's in an Exo-terra explorarium (18"x12") with just a bandable vine for extra surface to climb on, although it seems to like hanging upside down. Should i just leave it alone, or what? ANy suggestions would be great

 

[Rick]

If it's not yet adult it is probably about to molt. If it acts and looks fine otherwise just leave it alone and see what happens. Welcome to the forum, we have a new member introductions forum so you can introduce yourself.

 

[Herp13]

Oh, ok. Another thing is that the "open air" terrarium can't really hold any moisture, but it's an awesome terrarium and i would like it to work for me, how can i get the humidity up?

 

[Rick]

Use some substate in the bottom that holds moisture. I like to use the dry spaghnum moss you can buy. It hold a lot of water. Or you can mist the enclosures sides.

 

[Herp13]

Ok I have a bunch of moss, i'll definetly try it, but i noticed he drank a lot when i heavily misted the cage this morning, could it have been he was dehydrated? Over here in Maryland it is REALLY hot right now, and VERY dry. So after that i went out to my neigbors lil garden and happend to see a bunch of these little "stink bugs" and caught a few, but he hasn't eaten any, yet

 

[wuwu]

have you had him for awhile?

 

[Rick]

I've noticed that the only times mine drink water is when I have let the moss get really dry and have forgot to mist.

 

[Herp13]

I caught him outside on Sunday night, and he has still only eaten half a cricket.

 

[Johnald Chaffinch]

my mantids dont like stink bugs, i think their natural stinky defence works well on them :wink: . the same goes for ladybirds.

i'm not sure what an open air terrarium look sliek but is it possible to turn it on it's side maybe? as oen way to increase humidity would be to stop it escaping ( though you would still need good ventilation for the mantids ) .

do you know if it's a nymph or an adult?

if it gets defensive over small insects coming near it then they're usually about to shed.

if it's not about to shed it would normally quickly grab any animal small enough that goes past it. though i've not had a chinese

 

[Herp13]

Actually, it's a nymph and, and i think it's shedding right now. It started to move it's abdomen up against it's body as if it was trying to "burst" the outer skin off. Is it shedding?

 

[Rick]

Just leave it alone. If it is going to shed it will be over very soon. I can tell when mine are about to because they look swollen and they don't move much. And most mantids I've kept do eat stinkbugs but won't touch ladybugs.

 

[Herp13]

Oh, ok It really hasn't been moving and active like it ussualy is, so i guess it's been waiting for this important night

 

[Herp13]

I have some good news, and some bad... Good news is, it made it out of it's old exoskeleton, but the bad news, it fell 18" as a soft squishy lump in the middle of the night, it's still alive, but it can't fully lift itself, yet, it's wings aren't strait against it's body, they are all floppy and just begining to harden at the very front, and her right front hook is damaged, it's not like a reaper, more like a dull ended spike(maybe from the fall?) but other than that, she looks normal to me. Is all this normal? Will she survive? How can i help her? I feel so bad, she's wild caught so i feel like i did something wrong, but if she doesn't make it she left a pretty exoskeleton for me to remember her by

 

[Rick]

It's not normal but it does happen. Try to get her up and hanging from something so she can harden up. If she was laying down there for awhile it may be too late. Depends on what was damaged when she fell and how much she has dried already.

 

[Herp13]

Well, i checked her out again, she has this green liquid that dried up on the tips of her feet so her calws are "clogged" up, she can't really hang on anything, this stuff was also on her eyes(i removed it) and her properly formed front leg(also removed). She is still active, and moving around, she just can't hold on to anything very well, what should i do?

 

[Rick]

Personally I would put her in the freezer for about five minutes and end it there.

 

[Herp13]

You meant basically euthanize her?

 

[bruty2fruity]

not if it seems healthy and moving around. you know where this ooze came from

 

[Herp13]

She's gone, i euthanized her, i noticed some of her legs were splayed too, and the ooz was also in her exoskeleton, it was a green liquid that dried up after a while, i removed it from her eyes, to reveal an unhardened surface under it, and from some of the tips of her legs. And her wings were all bent up and pretty much useless, i am now worried about using the explorarium, i don't want other critters to fall after their molts Do they ussualy catch themselves, or do they always fall to their death?