URGENT ADVICE NEEDED

[sutmaejoe]

I have a Giant African, had him since his first shed. He started to moult his last time tonight at 0100, 0200 I come down and he was on the floor of his enclosure, I left him be as didn't want to cause any further damage. He finally shed at 0330 but very much deformed, both his rear legs are bent upwards and his wings are just dragging on the floor, he has plenty of life left in him but he doesn't seem able to climb. Does anyone think he will survive? I'm so disappointed as this is my first mantid and I have looked after him all his life for this to happen at the end. Any suggestions please?

 

[Ntsees]

Are you able to show us a picture of it? But based on your description, it won't die but it might not be able to mate. If it's raptorial legs are still good, and if it's a male, then it can feed itself and you might be able to still mate it with a female. If not, then it'll have to be hand-fed which is very time consuming. For me, that mantid would probably go in the freezer.

 

[sutmaejoe]

I wont put him in the freezer, I would rather hand feed if needed. He wont be able to climb and he can only drag himself along using his raptorial legs. I am not worried about mating him either, just want him to live for as long as possible. Does this happen a lot? Just saw another recent thread,same scenario.

 

[Bryce08]

If hes still moving around a lot...and if its just his back legs he should be able to get around enough....hard to tell without a picture.

But keep him at home and as long as hes got energy and hes eating then just keep at it...if u can make it till next molt its possible he will molt out of it...but again pictures would help a lot if you can get any. Your going to have to hand feed instead of letting him catch his prey most likely.

 

[sutmaejoe]

Im afraid I have not got a camera at the moment. Thanks for the advice, I shall just take it as it comes.

 

[Bryce08]

Just keep us updated....

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sinse you said his wings are on the floor, he is adult and wont shed again, I hand feed mine and offer them drinks on bottle tops, they live a long time like that, I also put them on a towel in a warm spot, which they love.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Please see this thread, she is still my background on my laptop.

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=20392&hl=%2B+%2Bno+%2Bhands&fromsearch=1

 

[Psychobunny]

Sinse you said his wings are on the floor, he is adult and wont shed again, I hand feed mine and offer them drinks on bottle tops, they live a long time like that, I also put them on a towel in a warm spot, which they love.

I have a adult female cilnia that the same thing happened to.

Instead of hanging upside down to stretch and dry, she was dragging on the floor.

So her 2 back legs are useless, and her wings are all sticking up in weird directions and are all creased.

Her 2 raprorial arms work fine though. But she still has a bad time catching food.

I "lame up" the BB's so she can get them easier, and once a week, I take her out and hand feed her.

This is what you will have to do with yours too.

As long as they are still eating, there is no need to send them on a one way trip to the North Pole!!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Yea, the way I look at it, is they dont move much anyway!

 

[Bryce08]

Sinse you said his wings are on the floor, he is adult and wont shed again, I hand feed mine and offer them drinks on bottle tops, they live a long time like that, I also put them on a towel in a warm spot, which they love.

wow i was so tired last night i skimmed over the fact he was an adult....my whole post is almost worthless...lol still though try to hand feed dependsing on how bad it islol rebecca its so true and thats the way i think of it a lot of the times

 

[Precarious]

If ever you see a mantis has dropped during molt hold it up by the skin of the legs so it can finish. They need gravity to assist and must hang upside down while the new skin hardens. They can't climb while soft and will damage their legs trying. I'm sorry to say that had you helped him up he would probably be fine.

Nothing you can do now but take care of him and see what happens.

 

[sutmaejoe]

Well then lesson learnt, the hard way. He is ok, he just cannot climb and only has use of both raptures and one front leg. Hopefully he will live a bit longer and I can hand feed him.

 

[Ntsees]

You don't need to be that much concerned since it's an adult. If you can handle hand feeding him, where he'll get enough food and is well taken care of, his life duration will be about the same as if he never mismolted (because he's now an adult and no longer needs further molting). The difference between your situation (mismolt to an adult) compared to a situation where mismolt occured to an instar stage is that the instar would end up dying shortly after it's next molt attempt (if someone was successful in keeping that instar alive that is).

 

[MandellaMandy123]

I don't think anyone else mentioned this, but if his wings are causing a problem, you can always clip them. That's what I do with my mismolts - it doesn't hurt them.