Orchid not eating

[Ben10101]

One of my adult orchids have been acting strange for the past few weeks.

At first I noticed she doesn’t finish flies and left scattered fly abdomens all along the bottom of the tanks.

Normally she would take flies when I hold them next to her mouth, but stating a week or 2 ago she doesn’t. Additionally she some injuries to her left eye, in a line for 2-3 spots. (Which are more visible when she has her “day time eyes”)

Then she is now not very receptive of food and when I try to take her out for feeding and cleaning, she is way more flighty and nervous, panic running and frequently uses her wings to  fly to another spot.

It is also really hard to trigger a feeding response on her.

Anyone know how I can help her out? She is still fairly plump, but I fear if this carries on she might starve herself... Has anyone experienced the same? Is it due to her impaired vision of her damaged eye?

 

[MantisGirl13]

Have you tried giving her pure honey?

- MantisGirl13

 

[Ben10101]

Have you tried giving her pure honey?

- MantisGirl13

Not yet, gonna try that out.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Not yet, gonna try that out.

Orchids love honey. I hope she likes it!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

I can't tell from the pic where her eye is injured but sometimes the pseudopupil will change size or look different day to day. If she really is vision impaired that may be why she's having trouble recognizing food. Try holding the fly directly against her mandibles to see if that triggers a feeding response. If that doesn't work try cutting a larger bug in half then put the goo directly to her mouth, this almost always triggers a feeding response. It is very common for mantises to be messy eaters and drop parts of their food or to eat some then discard the rest, I wouldn't worry about that part. How often was she eating before and how often is she eating now?