Undead Mantis?

[TreetopMantid]

Hello, I made a post a few days ago about my mantis cannibal's. You may be familiar with my tenodera's. Well the one that was "dead" is still walking around like a live one for the past 2 days. I grabbed the mantis before anything else but the head was eaten (the head was the only thing eaten when I found them). The nerves are probably connected and functioning but weakening. Is this normal for them to walk around with no head?

 

[twolfe]

I've seen it happen but I don't know if I've had one live as long as two days. I'd rather mine just get eaten than have to watch a headless mantis wandering around.

 

[Mantis Man13]

Yes, I have seen it happen. Mantises naturally can survive better without a head than most insects because of cannibalism during mating, since mating can last a whole day.

 

[TheBeesKnees]

They're also very close relatives to the cockroach, who can survive an extremely long time without their head and will only generally die due to dehydration/starvation.

Insects do not have a centralized brain or nervous system. All of that stuff is dispersed throughout their body. So while the mantis won't function fully without it's head (due to losing all of the sensory organs in there), they'll still fare quite well and are, by all definitions, still 'alive' and breathing.
You might actually be surprised to know that an immaculately severed mantis head can also 'live' for a couple hours, and will wiggle the antennae and behave as an insect's head head should, until it runs out of steam.

But unless the insect is fully in tact, it'll never behave as a fully functioning entity in terms of it's response to stimuli. Your mantis, without her head, can probably live for a week or so in the best conditions... But I dunno, man. I'd just feed it to the other girl. Let it serve a purpose :'| <3

 

[Aryia]

Yep, usually if my males get an injury near the thorax/head I will just let the female finish her job. The prognosis of any injury near that area will usually result in death anyway, although it's helpful to know that headless males can and still will try to mate!

 

[dmina]

Now was this topic for a Halloween creep.. it worked! ... really creeped me out... but

Got any video? no, really ... 2 days ... that is a determined mantis ... gives new meaning to dedicated!

 

[TheBeesKnees]

... gives new meaning to dedicated!

I think you mean...

deadicated.

 

[SoylentGreen]

:lol: :lol:

I think you mean...

deadicated.

 

[dmina]

Yep! hehe

 

[Mantis Man13]

dmina where do you find all these cool images? On google?

 

[dmina]

No, unfortunately I don't google well,(I get lost in cyberspace) So I avoid it as much as possible...hehe

It was another collection/hobby I had years ago.. I'm just happy to be able to use them again...LOL

 

[dmina]

Treetopmanmantid ... Did you get a video?