Sick Creo?

[JP77]

I have three female Creos, all healthy and eating, and I recently got a male to try and breed with them. The male was a bit rough and looked older, didn't move very fluidly, and had reddish pink eyes, which I thought was unusual since my females all had pale, whitish eyes. Anyway, I introduced the male to each female to see if they would mate. All three ran away from the male as fast as they could, and one went as far as attacking him, and took a chunk out of one of his raptors. The next day, the male ended up dying, but now one of the females (possibly the one that attacked the male) has one pink eye and is acting agitated and disorientated, walking in circles on the floor and seems unable to climb. I cleaned out all the female containers and separated the odd-acting female from the rest.

My questions are, does this sound like an illness, and is it possibly contagious? Is there anything that can be done at this point? Also, are mantids able to sense when another one is sick?

I can provide pictures if needed.

 

[Aryia]

Pictures would definitely help. It's not unusual for creobroter to have pink eyes, though if there is a difference between the two eyes, it usually points to a problem. Most of my males and females do have pink eyes and have been breeding and laying fertile oothecas which hatched.

When breeding Creobroters, the females can be quite jumpy. Especially if (from what it sounds like) you put all three females with one male, they will spook each other out and strike at each other in defense. I have a couple females that will start bouncing on their backs the second I pick up their container. It helps if you put some fake leaves into the container so they feel more secure, and after that it's up to the male to ambush her and cling on for his life. I've had males successfully jump on and go for rodeo rides on the females because they get spooked so easily, sometimes the females will even flare to fling the male off or to grab them.

Also, do you know if they are the same species? The creobroter stock in the US is unbelievably contaminated. I've not been able to get an ID for the ones that were sold to me as C. Pictipennis from 2 different sellers. It doesn't matter if you just breed and keep them to yourself, but in case you want to sell off excess offspring it is always good to make sure you know what species you are dealing with and if there's hybridization to make proper records of it.

 

[JP77]

Here we go, got some pictures. The quality isn't the best. The females are Creobroter pictipennis and the male should be as well. I introduced the male to each female one at a time. All at once would certainly be overwhelming =)

Here's the male, sadly deceased.

And the female with the discolored eye. The other two have whitish eyes.

Now she also appears to be leaning to the left, and isn't very coordinated.

 

[JP77]

Sadly she didn't last the night I would guess it was an infection.

 

[rickyveloz33]

It seem like rabies for insect :/ and did you get any info about it from who u got it from? And sry to hear that your mantis die cause I love creobroter.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I highly doubt it was an infection. As for the dark eyes, it happens sometimes right before an older mantis will pass. I liken it to how things break down in older people. When you get up there in age, especially right toward the end, things just don't work like they used to.