Peacock Mantis time between molts?

[ohaple]

I have seen guides for some species for length between molts. We are concerned we are messing up something with our peacock mantis' care causing a delayed molt. It is a male L5, was shipped October 1, arrived October 4. It has not molted in shipping or in our care, meaning at least 30 days since last molt. Our L5 (now L7) giant rainforest has already molted twice.

When he was with his previous owner (October 4-13ish) he had a constant supply of blue bottle flies. There were always at least 2 live flies in the enclosure for him to eat. Apparently he ate a lot for the first few days then stopped eating. When we got him about October 13, he would not eat. We finally were about to get him to take a mealworm about a week later, which he ate all of. Unlike our other mantises his abdomen stays very round for a long time. There has been no visible change in the shape of his abdomen since his last feeding. We have tried feeding him again but he will not take any food. His enclosure is kept at 80F in the center, about 85F towards the bottom, and closer to 75F at the top, using a heat mat.

Is this species just slower to molt? Is his development being slowed by some factor like hunger or heat? We are a little concerned.

 

[ohaple]

Nevermind. He molted last night. His one missing leg grew back about 50%. I figure that is about a 32 day molt cycle for this one.

 

[Graceface]

Yay! Good to hear ? Maybe he was a bit slower to molt this time due to regrowing the leg, or perhaps stress from moving homes. Either way, glad he finally molted

 

[MantisGirl13]

Yay! Congrats on the molt!

- MantisGirl13

 

[ohaple]

Thanks guys. I like to keep good records, so I have recorded all of out mantids major life events like molts, long periods without food, unusual behavior, changing enclosures, etc, so with this guy it was strange having so many unknowns. At least now we have a good baseline to move forward.

 

[Mantis Lady]

Gratz on  the molt.

His one missing leg grew back about 50%

Maybe next molt his leg is healed again

 

[ohaple]

Gratz on  the molt.

Maybe next molt his leg is healed again

We are hopeful

 

[MantisGirl13]

His leg will heal in one more molt, don't worry.  

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

@ohaple Can you show a pic of him? One that shows the half healed leg?

 

[ohaple]

Yeah, I don't have one now but will upload when I get home.

 

[ohaple]

Here is the best photo I could get

It appears the right shape but just small.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Yep, that is perfectly normal! He will have his full leg back next molt.

- MantisGirl13

 

[MantisGirl13]

Also, he is subadult so he will be adult next molt.

- MantisGirl13

 

[ohaple]

Also, he is subadult so he will be adult next molt.

- MantisGirl13

Probably a stupid question, but how do you know? I haven't been able to find a reliable resource to tell how many instars a species or gender has. The seller said that he was L5 when shipped, and so he should be L6 now. Ive seen information that female ghosts are adult at L8 and some other information about chinese mantids hitting L10? Is there a visual way to tell when one hits sub-adult? Do you just have the instars memorized?

 

[River Dane]

The wingbuds inflate/swell in subadult, even more so right before the adult molt. 

 

[ohaple]

The wingbuds inflate/swell in subadult, even more so right before the adult molt. 

Is it visible in the photo I posted? I haven't taken him out to inspect since his molt, but it wasn't obvious to me when looking at his leg. I'm not sure I know what to look for.

Here is another photo of him. I was tinkering with macro, but had troubles with the depth of field.

 

[River Dane]

Indeed, you can see them quite large on the side of the picture. Love the macro as well, by the way.

Here’s my S. limbata right before he final molt. It also helped me that her bottom wings became more vividly yellow as the molt drew nearer.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Yeah, I could tell he was a subadult because his wingbuds were the right size and shape and they were protruding a bit.

- MantisGirl13

 

[ohaple]

Yeah, I could tell he was a subadult because his wingbuds were the right size and shape and they were protruding a bit.

- MantisGirl13

Thanks. I will try to get a good photo of his wingbuds tonight to inspect for myself. Thanks for sharing the information!