throw up?

[MantisMart]

My friends zebra mantis has little tiny red dots in the cage. I have never had this happen to me so I need more opinions. He did this soon after eating fruit flies, so im wondering if maybe that's why. 



I have been told its from overfeeding. It has a reddish color.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Just a bit of vomit. I wouldn't worry as long as it doesn't keep happening and he doesn't change behavior.

- MantisGirl13

 

[KyleB]

I am having the same issue with my chinese praying mantis nymph in his 3rd instar. I just confirmed he is vomiting red fluid. He has been fed exclusively fruit flies. I have 3 others that came from the same supplier and they have all molted into the 4th instar and are over twice as big. He is very inactive and I haven't seen him eat in several days. I've read on the internet this could be from overfeeding. I've heard suggestions of feeding him honey. Any thoughts on this? I'm also worried the flies are diseased somehow any may kill the other 3 mantids I have. 

 

[Mantid-Tim]

In my experience, red vomit with little to no smell (or sometimes a bit pungent) is from eating too many fruit flies. Try feeding a bit less and see if that helps, but its not really something to worry about. Its actually the real consequence of overeating if you'd ever wondered about that.

 

[KyleB]

The mantis actually died 2 days after that post. Overfeeding seems unlikely because he was smaller than the other three nymphs I have by far and I rarely saw him eating. I will keep a close watch on that for the remaining three though. 

 

[Mantid-Tim]

Sorry to hear that. It must have been the vomit usually described as black/brown and was a digestive issue. I just had my favorite manits die due to another type of digestive problem (ie terminal indigestion). 

 

[Jdalt002]

Sorry for your loss, try to check the fruit fly culture for mold just in case. If there is or the flies seems super lethargic and unhealthy, which can be hard to estimate, I would get a new culture just to be safe.