Should I separate male ghost?

[Mantis Lady]

good you could save the males life.

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Thanks. I'm glad I could save him too. Hopefully this incident doesn't prevent him from trying to mate in the future. I'll make sure to monitor him super close if he is eventually able to mate.

I was actually planning on mating my orchids today, I was much more worried about the orchid female cannibalizing the male. The ghosts have lived together in the same enclosure since they were L4 and went thru 2 weeks straight of mating without incident. I guess I had become complacent and let my guard down, I didn't expect she would try to eat him. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

Wow! That really was a close call! It is a good thing you were right there to save him! Did you have luck mating your orchids? 

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

I haven't put the orchids together yet, I will soon but I guess I'm a little nervous to try after that close call with the ghosts. In the meantime I am trying to stuff her full of food so she won't be hungry or so interested in prey-like movement but she's like a bottomless pit. Everytime I put a fly in or hold a roach in front of her with feeding tongs she immediately grabs it. This makes me really nervous because the male is so tiny she could easily tear into him in less than a second. I said I would try once she stopped paying much much attention to prey but she isn't slowing down and she's eaten a lot more than I thought could fit inside her. A lot of the caresheets I've read said to keep feeding her while he's trying to mount so she has her hands full. Also to put them together in a large container so he can escape when he's done. Any one have any other tips to help him avoid being eaten? I do plan to watch very closely when he's trying to mount her, that seems to be the most dangerous part.

After his ordeal, my poor ghost's wing is now permanently bent at a 45 degree angle. I tried to straighten it out but it just goes back when I let it go. I watched a video about repairing live butterfly wings by gluing on a small cardboard brace. I was wondering if something similar could be done for his wing.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Sorry about the broken wing! I would just give your female a prey item that will take her a while to eat, and then introduce the male.

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

Sorry about the broken wing! I would just give your female a prey item that will take her a while to eat, and then introduce the male.

- MantisGirl13

That was I planning to do when Bob is old enough to mate with Cochise and keep a close eye on them.

The vid is interesting about repairing broken wings Maybe it could work for mantis wings too.

 

[MantisGirl13]

I didn't watch it, but i'm sure it is useful!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

I'm not going to try mating the male again, he is officially in retirement. He is at the end of his lifespan (males only live 6 to 8 weeks as adults) and he is already halfway into his 6th week. Besides that, he sustained damage from the last mating attempt when the female tried to eat him. The damage was not fatal but it affects his balance so he wouldn't be able to mount/dismount a female anyway. He has a bent wing, the other wings are jagged and frayed on the ends, he has shortened antennae and he is missing one leg and the front part of one of his raptoral arms. He would probably be able to function okay with one of these maladies but all together it leaves him somewhat handicapped. He is able to catch his own food and is still eating so he may live a bit longer but probably not more than a week...possibly two but I doubt it. He lived out his expected lifespan so when he does pass it will be due to old age and that's all we can hope for as mantis owners.

 

[Mantis Lady]

Hope the male will live a few couple of weeks in his old age. But agree on dying of old age is better than be eaten by his mate.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Yes, you should definitely give him a nice, hopefully long retired life as an adult. 

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

The male ghost passed this morning due to old age. He lived a day short of 8 weeks as an adult, that is a respectable age for him to live to, especially considering he was almost eaten by his mate a few weeks ago. I didn't expect him to make it this long quite honestly, I guess he proved my expectations wrong.

 

[MantisGirl13]

He lived to a ripe, old age. It is sad to lose a mantis, I lost an egyptian pygmy this morning, he was only adult for about a week and a half!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

@MantisGirl13 and @Predatorhousepet: Sorry for your loss. It is sad when mantids die and leave an empty spot..

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Yeah it does but at least with him I was expecting it and dying of old age really isn't bad. It could be so much worse, for example I just now had to euthanize one of my new L2 twig mantis nymphs because it mismolted. I found the poor thing twitching at the bottom of his cup only partially molted and half solidified into a grotesque twisted form. I would have tried to save him if I could but he had already dried that way and there was nothing I could do but end his suffering. I hate losing them to mismolts especially when they are so young, I'll take dying from old age any day over that.

 

[MantisGirl13]

I hate mismolts! It is so sad when you can't do any more for them, though I have saved at least three or four nymphs from dying from mismolts.

- MantisGirl13