Sick mantis?

[PlasticMonkey]

I think I might have (accidentally) killed my Chinese mantis. My sole survivor. She's one molt from adulthood.

I gave her a big cricket yesterday. I normally wouldn't have given it to her due to it's size, but it wasn't moving much so I figured it was probably dying and wouldn't be able to fight back much.

She ate it quite happily (almost the whole freaking thing) and now her abdomen is swollen. I think it was either too much for her, or the cricket was poisoned (and thus, poisoned her).

Either way, I feel terrible.

I shouldn't have given her that cricket...

Right now she's lying on the bottom of her cage. Her back 4 legs are folded up, but she's still alive. The worst part is that she's ONE MOLT from adulthood. She's got her wing-buds, and would have molted to a full adult within the next few weeks.

(haven't been here in a while, thought i'd share)

 

[Peekaboo]

From what you described, it was probably the cricket that made her sick. However, in my experience, when mantids eat bad food, they normally throw it up, so maybe it wasn't the cricket at all.

For future reference, it's never a good idea to use sick or dying food as feeders. Whatever is infecting or killing the feeder will be consumed by the mantid and passed onto it.

Don't be too hard on yourself. We've all made lethal mistakes when it comes to mantids. I accidentally squashed one of my nymphs.

 

[PlasticMonkey]

Thanks...

Yeah, i just got done burying her. I debated feeding the cricket to her, but i figured since it was such a big cricket, it was dying from old age. I should have known better... but I guess I learned from my mistake.

 

[PseudoDave]

A mistake is only a mistake if you fail to learn from it, sorry to hear about the mantis. It still may not have been the cricket, but as has already been said, healthy food means a healthy mantis.

Good luck

Dave