Nymph caught its own eye!?

[lancaster1313]

I was feeding my mantids some moths and something strange happened. An L4 chinese nymph fell from the top of its container, trying to get a moth. When the moth flew down to where the mantis could grab it, it grabbed it all right. In the left foreleg was the moth, and in the right was its own eye. I waited a minute to see if it would let go of its eye. It didn't, as it was struggling with the moth, with its left forearm, the moth escaped. After another minute I opened the container to help. It was just walking around holding its eye, I touched the tip of the claw with my fingernail a couple of times and it finally let go. I don't know what to make of it. Has anyone ever seen this before? Perhaps it just made a mistake.

 

[hibiscusmile]

That's what happened, they grab a lot of things thinking it is food.

 

[lancaster1313]

I wonder if they feel pain, cause it seemed to take a while to realize that it had itself. I feel like it would have taken longer if I didn't interfere. I hand fed it the moth right after it released itself. It seems normal now. I hope the eye is ok, it is too small for me to tell right now. My eyes aren't the best.

 

[ismart]

Sadly your chinese mantis is clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed. Or the brightest crayon in the box. :lol: I have seen them do this from time to time.

 

[ismart]

The eye should be fine. I would not worry.

 

[lancaster1313]

I have already had two deaths from injured eyes. I thought that was over when I separeted the nymphs from eachother! :lol: It wasn't a surprise when they ate eachother. Now I must worry that they will catch and eat thier self.

 

[lancaster1313]

Well, the eye is not black yet. Black eyes, was what happened to the others that were bitten by thier siblings. This wasn't a bite thank goodness, I suppose that would be difficult to bite ones own eye.

 

[lancaster1313]

I fed it another moth, and I think that this mantis is eccentric or something. It grabbed the eye again! Now that I looked closely I don't think that it is grabbing it hard. It seems to be trying to grab the other end of its food to stretch it across the face real close,(and just happens to have the eye too?) because once adjusted it holds the food high over its right eye, while eating it. I'll have to post a pic next time. This is weird and hard to explain.

 

[ismart]

I think the arm might be a tad bit off center. Maybe in the last molt it shifted a little?

 

[Ntsees]

+1 to ismart. Also, even if the eye was damaged, it's future molting should fix it.

 

[Rick]

Can't say I have ever seen that.

 

[lancaster1313]

I just fed it another moth, and it caught it normally, but then while eating, started the head grabbing action again. Then it just started to hold the claw behind its head while eating with the other claw. I got pics on my phone but my husband borrowed the peice I use to transfer pics, and LOST IT! :angry: Now I have nothing to show for myself, :blush: Darn it to peices!

 

[lancaster1313]

The eye looks normal in daylight with the blinds open. In the lights I use when it is dark out, the one eye is black. I have another mantis at the same instar that has one black eye in artificial light, but I don't know how that happened. I know that all thier eyes are black in low light or when I just turn the lights on. The mantids seem fine otherwise.

 

[Peter Clausen]

I'm with Rick--never seen this before. Always interesting to hear the odd fact!

 

[lancaster1313]

Overexposed pic, but I hope you can see what I mean.