Hi all,
I have a female ghost mantis, L4 (I think) who I worry may have come into contact with metofluthrin from an outdoor mosquito repellant and I'm worried about her. I was hoping to get your opinions and/or advice if you've seen something similar?
Here's what happened: 2 days ago, my ghostie molted (successfully and without issue). That evening, I went outside with my small Thermacell device--it emits metofluthrin when you turn it on, and it's supposed to create a 15-foot perimeter that mosquitos can't get to you in. I turned it off before I went back inside so it wasn't emitting anything. But shortly after I re-entered the room my mantis was in, I noticed her FREAKING out: shaking, washing her face and eyes over and over almost compulsively. I PANIC, assuming it must be pesticide residue, and rush her outside to air out her (butterfly mesh) cage and spray her down with spring water, thinking it might wash anything off (I admit I was a little frantic and not thinking perfectly clearly lol). It seems to help but not enough, so I take her upstairs (mantis room is downstairs) and get fans going to ventilate, hop in the shower and put on clean clothes, and basically just wash my hands and let her climb around near an air purifier. Thankfully, she seemed to improve.
It's now about 48 hours later. I fed her a bit of honey water and held up a decapitated cricket, which she thankfully ate. My concern though is that she is acting strangely, like she can't see well? She still looks at me when I move or get close, but when she climbs she waves her raptors around like she can't judge the distance to the next finger/branch. I haven't tried feeding her live flies since the cricket so I'm not sure if she'd hunt normally. But weirdly, nothing seems visibly wrong with her eyes?? No dark spots like eye rub, no dents, pseudopupils normal... they're maybe a little lighter but she DID just molt so I can't be sure. I also think she's wobbling more when she walks than before--but she's always done that swaying-leaf thing near constantly while walking anyway. She moves normally and stays still normally otherwise. (Attached pics are from today; her eyes and posture look normal to me)
Has anyone experience anything like this? Am I right and it was pesticide exposure? She seems markedly improved and mostly back to normal, but I'm mostly worried about her vision. Any advice, theories, or experience would be so appreciated!! Thank you!!
I have a female ghost mantis, L4 (I think) who I worry may have come into contact with metofluthrin from an outdoor mosquito repellant and I'm worried about her. I was hoping to get your opinions and/or advice if you've seen something similar?
Here's what happened: 2 days ago, my ghostie molted (successfully and without issue). That evening, I went outside with my small Thermacell device--it emits metofluthrin when you turn it on, and it's supposed to create a 15-foot perimeter that mosquitos can't get to you in. I turned it off before I went back inside so it wasn't emitting anything. But shortly after I re-entered the room my mantis was in, I noticed her FREAKING out: shaking, washing her face and eyes over and over almost compulsively. I PANIC, assuming it must be pesticide residue, and rush her outside to air out her (butterfly mesh) cage and spray her down with spring water, thinking it might wash anything off (I admit I was a little frantic and not thinking perfectly clearly lol). It seems to help but not enough, so I take her upstairs (mantis room is downstairs) and get fans going to ventilate, hop in the shower and put on clean clothes, and basically just wash my hands and let her climb around near an air purifier. Thankfully, she seemed to improve.
It's now about 48 hours later. I fed her a bit of honey water and held up a decapitated cricket, which she thankfully ate. My concern though is that she is acting strangely, like she can't see well? She still looks at me when I move or get close, but when she climbs she waves her raptors around like she can't judge the distance to the next finger/branch. I haven't tried feeding her live flies since the cricket so I'm not sure if she'd hunt normally. But weirdly, nothing seems visibly wrong with her eyes?? No dark spots like eye rub, no dents, pseudopupils normal... they're maybe a little lighter but she DID just molt so I can't be sure. I also think she's wobbling more when she walks than before--but she's always done that swaying-leaf thing near constantly while walking anyway. She moves normally and stays still normally otherwise. (Attached pics are from today; her eyes and posture look normal to me)
Has anyone experience anything like this? Am I right and it was pesticide exposure? She seems markedly improved and mostly back to normal, but I'm mostly worried about her vision. Any advice, theories, or experience would be so appreciated!! Thank you!!
Like I said she did just molt immediately before this incident, and got substantially bigger, so I did wonder if maybe her behavior changed/she’s just getting used to the size of her new body, lol. I think on the spectrum of “normal” to “very alarming,” her behavior is much closer to the former!
So her eyesight must be fine. I am hesitantly hopeful that she didn't suffer permanent illness/injury from whatever had her acting like that. I'm still not sure if it was actually indirect metofluthrin contact that caused her odd behavior, but the symptoms did make me think it was some kind of neurotoxic effect?
