Two sick S. limbata females

[kamakiri]

Earlier this week, a couple of my girls appeared to be sick. Both were sub adult...one that was older was 'fat' and looking like she was near molting with enlarged wing buds. Came home one evening to her hanging by one foot. She went downhill slowly and died the other day.

The recently molted sub adult had stopped eating. Gave her some water, and she drank a lot!...several droplets. Figuring that it might have been too dry in general even for this desert enduring species, I provided water to the rest...and there weren't really any takers. The sick one continued to take water...had some diarrhea and even regurgitated several times over the following few days. No eating during that time, not even any interest or tracking of prey...and she was getting paper thin in the abdomen. Yesterday, she took a little interest in a cricket, but didn't strike despite repeated attempts to get the cricket in front of her. This afternoon, she had a couple of 'regular' pelletized poos...so I figured she was getting better...and she finally took a cricket! So I guess she is okay, but will still be closely observed.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Earlier this week, a couple of my girls appeared to be sick. Both were sub adult...one that was older was 'fat' and looking like she was near molting with enlarged wing buds. Came home one evening to her hanging by one foot. She went downhill slowly and died the other day.The recently molted sub adult had stopped eating. Gave her some water, and she drank a lot!...several droplets. Figuring that it might have been too dry in general even for this desert enduring species, I provided water to the rest...and there weren't really any takers. The sick one continued to take water...had some diarrhea and even regurgitated several times over the following few days. No eating during that time, not even any interest or tracking of prey...and she was getting paper thin in the abdomen. Yesterday, she took a little interest in a cricket, but didn't strike despite repeated attempts to get the cricket in front of her. This afternoon, she had a couple of 'regular' pelletized poos...so I figured she was getting better...and she finally took a cricket! So I guess she is okay, but will still be closely observed.

I don't have a direct answer for you, but I did lose all of my AZ unicorns (four) in rapid succession a few months ago at around L6 and Yen has since told me that they cannot tolerate too much humidity until adulthood, when the humidity increases with the monsoon. I now have three more, doing well with no increased humidity aside from a sponge feeding port bung that is moistened once a day.

As you say, S. limbata is an arid desert native (this part of the Mojave is even drier than the native habitat of P. arizonae), and though my original female, captured in October, is still going strong, I wiped out an entire hatch of S. limbata a few days ago, and since they were very well fed, I can only blame too high humidity.

What is your misting practice with this species?

 

[kamakiri]

I don't have a direct answer for you, but I did lose all of my AZ unicorns (four) in rapid succession a few months ago at around L6 and Yen has since told me that they cannot tolerate too much humidity until adulthood, when the humidity increases with the monsoon. I now have three more, doing well with no increased humidity aside from a sponge feeding port bung that is moistened once a day.As you say, S. limbata is an arid desert native (this part of the Mojave is even drier than the native habitat of P. arizonae), and though my original female, captured in October, is still going strong, I wiped out an entire hatch of S. limbata a few days ago, and since they were very well fed, I can only blame too high humidity.

What is your misting practice with this species?

Generally, no misting. Not even for molting. Doesn't seem to be a problem or *the* problem....

Dang, that mantis is old!

 

[PhilinYuma]

Generally, no misting. Not even for molting. Doesn't seem to be a problem or *the* problem....Dang, that mantis is old!

Well, that's good new for me; S limbata is one of my favorites. Has the sick one completely recovered, yet?

 

[kamakiri]

Well, that's good new for me; S limbata is one of my favorites. Has the sick one completely recovered, yet?

Seems completely normal now. I'll feel better if or when she takes a large cricket and puts on some weight. She was molting about 2 weeks behind her 4 sisters...so we'll know in a couple of weeks.

Two of the other females molted to adult overnight, so I'm really not sure what the problem was. The one that died was probably the most aggressive and well fed.

 

[cloud jaguar]

Kamakiri, do yo have any adults that are pink?

Philinuma, that must be the longest lived wildcaught s. limbata ever, cool.

 

[kamakiri]

Just the one that was pink/camo so far that I posted the pic in the other thread (Marge). The other adults are green. Two girls from last night (Vanessa and Cherisse), and a male with messed up wings and claws due to a mismolt. The last female L7/subadult which used to be white, is now pink (Barbie)...also the one that I mentioned being sick. The good news is that she just took a large cricket just now and is munching as I type...so I think she is okay now. I really was worried about her since that is the only time I've seen a mantis barf so much

All the rest of the 13 L7 males are green variants. I think they're all getting food names like 'Chicken' and 'Roast Beef'

 

[Katnapper]

All the rest of the 13 L7 males are green variants. I think they're all getting food names like 'Chicken' and 'Roast Beef'

:lol: Hahaha... Aren't you afraid you're going to hex them? Poor guys... the females might start looking at them even more as food!

 

[kamakiri]

:lol: Hahaha... Aren't you afraid you're going to hex them? Poor guys... the females might start looking at them even more as food!

:lol: It's just their lot in life...well, at least the ones in captivity

 

[kamakiri]

Update:

Barbie seems to have fully recovered and is finally putting on some weight. Hopefully she puts on enough before she molts. She's got a way go to catch up to her adult sisters.