Strange problem with a mantis *pic*

[Rick]

One of my chinese which is two molts away from adult has a strange problem. I came home tonight to find her hanging from her lid and she is bent in the middle. Her abdomen is bent downward with a sharp crease right between her two sets of wingbuds. She looks "soft" but I don't want to touch her. She has not eat anything lately but is still kinda plump. I think she is about to molt but never seen them get bent like this before.

Here is a bad pic but you will get the idea.

 

[Andrew]

The mantis looks fine to me. Maybe its just resting?

 

[Rick]

Do you see where she is bent right after the wingbuds? Never seen her like that. Her last molt was on Dec. 14. She keeps trying to straighten out but her abdomen flops right back down. The end of her abdomen is kinda open and strange looking.

 

[Rick]

She molted last night to an adult! :shock:

 

[Jesse]

She molted last night to an adult! :shock:

That would have been my guess, but she beat me to it (by actually molting). Mantids do some strange things before they molt into adults.

 

[DeShawn]

That would have been my guess as well, especially with the not eating and the wing buds looking so fat. That is always a sure sign of a molt about to happen any day.

How many pairs of T. sinensis do you have?

 

[Rick]

I have this female and a male from the same ooth. The male should molt here soon to adult. I really did not expect them to molt to adult after this molt. I have four other nymphs that are L2. Also got the africans and a female carolina and am waiting on you to send the grandis'

 

[Birdfly]

I have had this with T a sinensis/angustipennis/superstituosa.

I believe its like flap tail in geckoes, in other words the mantids perhaps spending an unnatural amount of time hanging upside down.

Also, and i believe they are linked, is to full before & after a moult when the skin is quite soft the weight of the abdomen can pull this crease/fold right through a scute in an ab normal fashion.

I also lost a few of each as some never seemed to put weight on afterwards, it was like food couldn't pass from the crop through the fold and into the gut. ?????????

Preventable rather than curable i think.

I asked about this on another forum some time ago and got replies like: "mantids usually hold their abdomens like this" so i formed my own conclusions.

I hope i was of some help.