Orchid

Jwonni · Dec 20, 2005

i got 2 female orchid mantids this morning. Unfortunately one has had a problem it looks like it has shed very recently (my mam checked them when they arrived this morning and she only noticed one had shed so I think this other one has shed in the past couple of hours) and was on the floor on its side, it was alive as its mouthparts were moving but it wont move its arms or legs and it cant grip upsidedown on the mesh for more than about a minute till it falls, i dont think it looks like it will be alive when i return from work, as it cant grip i have got it the right way up on a bit of tissue.

In your experience from what I have described would you say it is likely to die? Also would you say the problem does sound like it has falled as it finished shedding?

The other female is nice and plump and very lively

ellroy · Dec 20, 2005

Hi Jwonni,

Sorry to hear that. I've never kept orchids but it definitely sounds like it fell during the moult. It may not die straight away but chances are it will not be able to feed itself or even walk so will die eventually. Personally I would put it out of its misery, some people might say try and hand feed it but thats just postponing the inevitable as if it can't support itself it will not be able to moult properly next time either.

This kind of thing can happen if the mantis is disturbed during the moult, there are no suitable surfaces for the mantis to hang from or there was not enough room for the mantis to 'fall' out of its old skin (nomally 3x the length of the mantis).

Good luck with the other one,

Alan

Jwonni · Dec 20, 2005

right well if it is still in a bad way when i get home i probably will squish it as there is no way to nurse it if it can only lie down and cant move anything other than its mouth and it cant hang

it had enougth room and it had nice material to hang from in its container so i imagine it could have fallen either when my mam checked them when they arrived or while in the delivery van

lullaby10 · Dec 20, 2005

That's what happened to my chinese nymph. I hand fed her and gave her water on a q-tip. It was very time consuming and there was no way that she would have been able to make it through the next moult. She ended up dying. You might want to put it out of its mysery.