Question

[RocknessMonster]

I have a lovely little mantis named Hornet, she's amazing.

As of recent she lost her ability to grasp onto things with her legs and has a hard time moving around, also has a hard time using her front legs. I switched her from her 10 gallon tank to a citter carrier so I can keep an eye on her and make sure she's fine and dandy. My mom came up with this idea;

Which is rather epic honestly! She can move around and be well...Hornet

As of recent we've been hand feeding her, misting her, loving her, letting her walk around on napkins and she's actually doing quite well.

This is the most current photo of her, taken Tuesday

I've been taking care of her non stop! She's still sassy and still the little love bug I love. BUT this morning I was having breakfast and I had her out, I didn't take a photo of this but I acted quick. I noticed on her one arm, she had these very VERY small worms, I used my handy tweezers and helped her remove them. There was less than 15 I'd say? That was at 11 and then around 3 in the afternoon I spotted one or two more. It's almost 11 at night here and she's walking around on her napkin just fine. I'm perfectly aware she's on her final stages of life and I'm not going to give up if she's not, she's a pet and a friend. I don't do that.

I'm curious on to what it may have been? She's not acting weird at all, I know it's not a horseworm thing, I can spot those, at last I'm sure I can.

A friend had told me it might be roundworm, which is common in bugs, I'm not sure to be honest. But she was as confused as me. Hornet hasn't been acting 'weird' or out of normal. Again she's still sassy, wanting attention and eating. She's herself, I'm just worried about those little worms I saw.

But seeing as they came and haven't returned I'm not toooooooo worried but as a pet owner, still am.

Any help would be appreciated.

And thank you.

Edit: I'm also under the assumption I may have fed her a bad cricket. She started to lose strength last Saturday night and I've been helping her all the time. But I think she may have had a bad one during Halloween when I got her some as a treat.

Her diet is mostly flies, butterflies and special occasions when it's cold and I can't find anything, crickets.

 

[RocknessMonster]

Also I was reading through the health section here, very helpful by the way, I read that someone on here fed their mantis a fly and found these same little worms.

I had given her a horse fly prior to me sitting down to eat. So it might have been that possibly?

She's been doing fine as of now actually.

 

[Rick]

Many insects carry ectoparasites. In my experience these are often mites of some sort. Are you sure they were "worms" and not a mite of some sort? Is your mantis captive bred or caught in the wild? It is not unusual for wild mantids to have endoparasites. Often these are the larvae of certain types of flies that eventually emerge and kill the mantis.

 

[RocknessMonster]

I found her in mid-August

Well as of this morning nothing has been out of the normal with her. I just misted her and she's happy as can be.

To be perfectly honest about the mite, I really don't know. I just acted quick and nothing has happened after yesterday.

 

[MandellaMandy123]

She'll probably be fine - they probably just came from the horse fly