Surprise Ghost Adult

[Ocelotbren]

I have four ghosts that I purchased at L2/L3...or so I thought.  One girl is ahead of the others in molting and she was due to molt to sub-adult anytime now.  I came home Sunday to see that she had molted...and that she was drying out her wings!  Oops?  I guess I was off by one in their instars all along.  Coming home to a new adult was very unexpected but also really exciting.  I guess when I thought I was getting L2/L3s it was actually L3/L4s.

Ghosts are adult at L8, right?  In which case I was indeed off by one the whole time.  This was my first time raising ghosts, and with their abdomens folded back I didn't even see the wing buds, not that I thought I needed to be looking yet.

Now that I've corrected my molting logs for everyone, it's time to gear up for some more adults in the next couple months!

Here she is:

 

[Connor]

Wow what a surprise! She's a beauty. Good luck with the others, in no time you'll have a little group of adult ghosts!

 

[Mystymantis]

She is beautiful! I love her color. And awesome pictures.

 

[Ocelotbren]

Thanks guys.

 

[Carnival Glass]

I'd say that's a good surprise!   She's really very pretty; looks like she's admiring herself in the reflection on the spoon in the 2nd pic lol~

 

[Ocelotbren]

@Carnival Glass Hah, if I were her, I'd probably be admiring myself too!

 

[Connor]

How are your ghosts doing? Any more adults?

 

[Ocelotbren]

@Connor Hmm, are you psychic?  I woke up to my second adult this morning.  He had been showing signs of molting since Monday and I have seriously been checking on him every waking hour since then.  Every night as I went to bed, I thought, "he's definitely going to molt overnight!"  But it took until the fourth night for that to be true.

Unfortunately, it looks like he had some sort of mishap...he is missing an entire back leg.  The exuvia is on the lid with one leg on the opposite side of the stick I have in there.  Despite hanging from the stick all week, apparently he moved to the lid for the actual molt, and chose a not so great spot.  My only guess is that he couldn't get that leg out due to it pressing up against the stick or something, and so either it came right off in his efforts, or he even chewed it off so he could finish molting?  Are either of those likely or possible?

His crown is slightly bent but his antennae are in perfect condition.  And his wings mostly unfurled successfully except the very ends are crinkled and won't lie flat.  He is on the side of the enclosure right off the ground so I imagine he ended up on the ground at some point and pulled himself up a ways, but perhaps not enough for his wings to completely straighten out.

I'm hoping he'll move somewhere I can see him better to check out the damage more easily, and once he's ready to be handled I'll get pictures too.  Just hoping for no internal damage.  I  THINK that the damage is primarily due to getting that leg stuck, and that if he did fall, it was after he was quite dry already and so the only real damage from that is him not crawling up high enough to let his wings fully straighten.  But, time will tell...

 

[Connor]

Haha apparently I am?. Yeah my S. Lineola was hanging in the molt position for a week with swollen wingbuds until he molted. I swear I checked on him like 30 times a day lol. 

Yeah if a leg gets stuck and they keep trying to get out, their leg basically just pops off. Probably not chewed. Happened with my thistle last night. Found him in the floor molting so I held him by his exoskeleton to finish his molt. Luckily he wasn’t very far when he fell so when I was holding him he straightened out his legs. Except for the back right leg which ended up getting stuck then just completely breaking off. 

He should be fine as long as he is not on the ground. Usually a bad sign when a flower mantis(is a ghost one?) is on the ground. 

Hopefully you will have some more adults to come and perhaps some breeding?!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Sounds like it would have just popped off due to being stuck then.  He's climbed up the side a little although he looks like he needs time to get used to the missing leg.  He seems to not want to use one raptor to walk too but it appears to be in good condition visually.  Plus he's annoyed about his wings not laying flat lol.  I would be annoyed too.

In the last molt, the other male was about 20 days behind this one, and the last female about 25 days behind the other male, so 45 days behind this male.  They are really spread out in their growth for whatever reason.  The first female reached adulthood 1.5 months ago!  They are making me work on my patience at least.

Not sure about breeding, even if their growth rate disparity doesn't prevent me from trying.  I had considered it but I have a rough plan for this hobby and it involves trying a few of each new species and not getting overrun with nymphs or too many species at once so that it takes up all my time haha.  I thought about doing it anyway and selling the ooths, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle, possible risk of accidents during breeding, and possible risk of shipping incidents, suspicious online transactions, and so on.  To me anyway.  Plus I have heard that ghost ooths can sometimes end up infertile even though breeding was successful and as a beginner, I'd hate to sell people ooths that never hatch.

So yes, I'll just be waiting patiently over here for the last two adult molts...for who knows how long.

 

[Connor]

Well good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Thanks @Connor.   I'm hoping to get pictures of him this weekend.

 

[Ocelotbren]

I took a couple pictures of the new adult:

You can see his crinkled wings, missing back left leg and bent crown here.

And just a glamour shot of him.

His front left tarsus seemed to be giving him problems in that he had a hard time placing it so it could grip surfaces.  I was wondering if it maybe got twisted or damaged.  Either way, he seemed to think it was a hindrance and I believe he chewed it off...lol.  It seems unlikely that it would have just fallen off on its own, but I noticed yesterday that it's completely missing.

He seems to be doing okay though!

 

[Connor]

Wow he’s looking good. Great pics. Looks like he had some troubles with his last molt.... though glad to hear he is doing fine!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Wow he’s looking good. Great pics. Looks like he had some troubles with his last molt.... though glad to hear he is doing fine!

Yeah he is the one that got his leg stuck on the opposite side of the stick.  Judging by the exuvia anyway.  But thank you.   Do you think he can fly with his wings like that?

 

[Connor]

I doubt he will be able to fly.. but who knows. 

 

[Mystymantis]

Yeah he is the one that got his leg stuck on the opposite side of the stick.  Judging by the exuvia anyway.  But thank you.   Do you think he can fly with his wings like that?

Glad he is doing well. Actually he might be able to fly mostly normally. I had a male Chinese mantis this year that had similar wings to your ghost, and wow he sure flew. I took him out one day and he jumped away and flew. I was a little surprised he could fly so well. But I think if the top part of the wings are damaged then it is not much of an issue, mantises use the under membranous wings to fly mostly or at least get the uplift from them. So as long as the wings underneath are mostly fine he should be able to fly relatively well.

Good luck!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Good to know, I will keep an eye on him when he's out just in case.  Thanks!

 

[Nanodot]

Yeah, I bet he can probably fly.  

My Ghost mantises spend zero time on the ground if they can help it.