Orchid Mantis Stopped Eating

[Myrnah]

My female orchid mantis stopped eating, molted to L7 and did not resume eating. She had no interest in her favorite blue bottle flies nor black soldier flies. She is in a living Vivarium and has had a voracious appetite up til now. Tried a Pyrex dish with meal worms, wax worms and Dubia roaches but she wasn't interested.

I was really getting worried. I was able to get her to eat from a Green Oasis Reptile honey stick, but her abdomen was very thin. It was 5 days since she had really eaten.

Finally I dusted some roaches put them back in Pyrex dish with a white napkin underneath. I then physically relocated her from the lid of enclosure onto a plant next to the dish. I put the viv lighting into moonlight mode. Voila! She ate all the roaches. She has been consistently feeding from dish and today finally snatched a fly again.

Whew! So relieved....

 

[MantidBro]

My female orchid mantis stopped eating, molted to L7 and did not resume eating. She had no interest in her favorite blue bottle flies nor black soldier flies. She is in a living Vivarium and has had a voracious appetite up til now. Tried a Pyrex dish with meal worms, wax worms and Dubia roaches but she wasn't interested.

I was really getting worried. I was able to get her to eat from a Green Oasis Reptile honey stick, but her abdomen was very thin. It was 5 days since she had really eaten.

Finally I dusted some roaches put them back in Pyrex dish with a white napkin underneath. I then physically relocated her from the lid of enclosure onto a plant next to the dish. I put the viv lighting into moonlight mode. Voila! She ate all the roaches. She has been consistently feeding from dish and today finally snatched a fly again.

Whew! So relieved....

After molting, mantids don't usually eat for a few days, because they're too weak and new. It's like a baby eating steak lol.

 

[Myrnah]

Interesting. I've had her since L2 and she usually stops eating before a molt. But her appetite after molt would resume within the day. That being said, this was a really big molt. She is much larger. So good to know. I'm just happy to see the nice plump abdomen again and she is active. She is much more alert now as well. She turns and looks at me every time I come near the viv. She's awesome. Lol

 

[Ranitomeya]

My orchid mantises tend to avoid capturing food for a couple days after molting, but they will accept and eat prey items if they are offered a pre-killed prey item that they can taste without feeling threatened after the first day. They probably have the tendency not to capture prey items because their exoskeletons are still fairly thin right after molting and would be easily injured by a struggling prey item.

I provide them with as much sugar solution as they want after a few hours of molting to give them a boost of energy and to supply them with moisture and then I offer them roaches that I've killed and pulled the heads off of at the end of the day. Once their mandibles come in contact with the juicy internal contents, they start nibbling at it and then they'll grab it and eat the whole thing if they don't feel threatened by the offering.