TheBeesKnees
Well-known member
@Sticky hehe Determination certainly suits them!! There were so many little babes on that tree, I wished I could give one out to everyone! Like some kind of insect Oprah Winfrey! (You get a mantis, and you get a mantis, and YOU get a mantis!! Everybody gets a mantis!!!)
Anyhoo! Penh molted last night!! I was completely unprepared for it as I wasn't expecting it at all! I thought they were supposed to lose their appetite and grow sluggish or something? She was eating butterflies all day, and skulking about her cage like the fierce hunter she is. I gave her cage a good misting before going to bed. Woke up this morning and checked to see if she had eaten the last butterfly I had given her and saw that she hadn't. Then, at the bottom of the cage, I saw a shed skin before I saw her! I might have panicked a little, since I thought the shed skin WAS her (and that she looked SO SICKLY so SUDDENLY)--but then I quickly found her hanging bright and strong from the top of the cage, in her usual fashion!
It looks like the molt was successful! Though I would never guess she had molted if I hadn't seen the shed skin. She doesn't look much larger, though she may still be filling out? Either way, I'm going to leave her alone until later tomorrow afternoon... And then I will take some photos!
Has anyone else experienced their mantis undergo a 'surprise' molt like this?
Anyhoo! Penh molted last night!! I was completely unprepared for it as I wasn't expecting it at all! I thought they were supposed to lose their appetite and grow sluggish or something? She was eating butterflies all day, and skulking about her cage like the fierce hunter she is. I gave her cage a good misting before going to bed. Woke up this morning and checked to see if she had eaten the last butterfly I had given her and saw that she hadn't. Then, at the bottom of the cage, I saw a shed skin before I saw her! I might have panicked a little, since I thought the shed skin WAS her (and that she looked SO SICKLY so SUDDENLY)--but then I quickly found her hanging bright and strong from the top of the cage, in her usual fashion!
It looks like the molt was successful! Though I would never guess she had molted if I hadn't seen the shed skin. She doesn't look much larger, though she may still be filling out? Either way, I'm going to leave her alone until later tomorrow afternoon... And then I will take some photos!
Has anyone else experienced their mantis undergo a 'surprise' molt like this?
