strange H coronatus behaviour?

[Pauline]

Three times now, I've seen H coronatus 'regurgitate' food. The first couple of times I wasn't quite sure what I saw... but last night I saw her do it again. She seems to do it when I open her tub to spray (but not every time): she crouches down, flat on her leave (or wherever she is) and moves her head (quite fast) side to side along the leave very quickly, at the same time a brown liquid (I'm assuming food?) comes out of her mouth---- so she leaves a soggy brown smear wherever she's done it.

I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this behaviour in H coronatus? Does it mean something? or maybe she over-eats? I'm assuming it's not some 'illness' as she only seems to do it when disturbed, and the first time I saw her do it was the day she arrived with me 24 Feb.

Best wishes,

Pauline

 

[Mike]

is that an orchid mantis?

 

[Pauline]

is that an orchid mantis?

Yes

Pauline

 

[Sheldon Johnson]

Usually thats a sign of bad health. What are you feeding her and what is the food being fed on?

 

[Mike]

where did u get it? i have been looking for orchid mantids for a while.

 

[Sheldon Johnson]

I know DeShawn has some. I know that Martin French has some, I know that Rob byatt will have some very shortly, as will I.

 

[Pauline]

Thanks for the replies.

Usually thats a sign of bad health. What are you feeding her and what is the food being fed on?

Oh that's not so good then!

I don't know exactly what she was being fed on before she got here.... small flies (not fruit flies) pupae were packaged in her tub.

I'm feeding her on the same diet as the other one I got at the same time (and the other one is not showing this behaviour): small black crickets, small silent brown crickets and curly wing flies. I've gutloaded the crickets with oats rolled in honey, and fresh veg (just whatever I have in the fridge!.. mostly sugar snap peas at the mo.)

Maybe the journey wasn't so good for their health? she was sent special delivery, but it snowed that night here, and when she arrived she was extremely cold, motionless on the bottom of her tub--- she warmed up slowly, then moulted after a few hours- she seems ok otherwise though, eating every day, and I think is 1 moult away from the adult.

Is there anything I can do to improve her health?

Best wishes,

Pauline

 

[Mike]

hmm ive heard bad stuff about deshawn and he never replied to my emails or pm's...

 

[Sheldon Johnson]

Pauline, my initial batch died when eating crickets, i moved to roaches shortly afterward and have had no problem what so ever.

Mike, DeShawn got some bad press about this time last year. However, my experiences with him have been pretty good. Besdies i dont imagine anyone else has them in the US atm.

 

[Devils flower]

Pauline,

Absolutely nothing to worry about!

The reason the mantis spits out food is probably a combination of stress (you just bought him/her) and feeding your feeder insects too wet/liquid food (carrots for example). Try feeding your crickets/flies cornflakes, bread, etc.

I had my Idolomantis doing it when I just bought him, and now he's a flourishing adult! I already had discussions about the subject on a belgian forum and there was a definite consensus.. :wink:

Cheerz,

Steven

 

[specy]

I had the same problem as well. You can try stop feeding them and give them water only until they stop throwing up. This usually works, but if they really got a health problem, then the throwing up will recur and eventually, they get too weak and die.

But dont give up, try stop feeding them and increase water intake, and try to feed them roach/flies instead of crickets after they stop throwing up.

 

[DeShawn]

Could be stress, but I have only had that happen when they eat something bad (almost always a bad cricket). Does the brown stuff stink pretty bad?

If it hasn't gotten too bad already, it can be stopped by changing/cleaning the container everytime she throws up, as well as feeding her a different food source than crickets for a bit. If she is pretty fat now from eating, wait a couple days before feeding her again.

This use to worry the out of me as I would almost always lose mantids that started to puke like that. Now if it happens its nothing but an annoyance because I have to change the container every time, but I very rarely lose the mantid.

And Mike, you emailed me on the 20th of last month about shipping to Canada. I replied back to you 2 and a half hours later asking you about the laws, procedures, etc. You never replied back. Either way, I have been told that I can't ship live insects to Canada. That was the only email ive ever received from [email protected]. It may be possible that you are not getting past my spam filter (I dont know why that would be though), so if you need to get a hold of me, pm me here.

Anyway, I hope it all works out Pauline!

 

[Isis]

Well, my Pseudocreobotra died when catching this desease. I don't want to trouble you, but it is VERY hard to recover from it- at least it was impossible for my mantids...

 

[ellroy]

Doesn't sound like a disease to me. Mantids can spit brown stuff out when they feel threatened which seems to tie in with what you are describing Pauline. Locusts do it too when handled.....I think its supposed to be bad tasting to deter predators. With the brown vomitting disease the mantids just spew up the brown stuff at random, personally I doubt its that. Perhaps you could try altering your setup so the mantis doesn't feel as threatened when you spray it?

Hope it works out ok,

Alan

 

[BUCKO]

Recently lost both my females to the same thing, thet started to vomit but didn't lose their appetite until it was too late and by that time they gone black from the inside. Been told that it was likely to a combination of too warm and overfeeding. Will try again soon and see what happens, if at first you dont succeed, try, try again.

 

[Rick]

I've had it happen on mantids too. They would sometimes end up dying. It comes from the food most likely. Never met a mantid who threw up in self defense.

 

[jonpat83]

I had this prolem with several orthodera novazeelandea a few years ago, the first 2 died after about a week. I started using rain water instead of tap water for spraying them and stopped feeding them crickets, they were fed on waxmoths and blue bottles from then on. I only lost 1 more a couple of days after and the other 4 recovered fine, I dont know if it was the feed or the water or just coincidence but I always use rain water now and never have any problems.

 

[bruty2fruity]

ive heard its better to youse older water, like a few days after its fresh from the tap. only what ive heard. and to be honest i try to mix up the matises food. i only have 8 - 4 chinese and 4 aisian. they absolutely love curly winged flies