Uri Geller bent my mantis!

[-MK-]

Seriously, this doesn't look right. Last night, I fed this Chinese L6 a fairly large cricket and went out for the evening as he was eating. When I came back home later, the cricket was completely devoured, and the mantis had an abdomen which didn't look right. If he stands right-side-up, it looks normal, but it just seems to go where gravity pulls it, hence the weird look when hanging upside-down.

When I first noticed it last night, I reached into the cup through the feeding hole and gently touched the abdomen, which resulted in the mantis spinning around to face my finger in full threat stance, with his abdomen curled like a scorpion's tail, so he can still move it when he wants to. I haven't messed with him since then because he appears to not want to be disturbed. It's now almost 24 hours since I found him like that, and he's just hanging out on the lid of his cup like normal. He seems to be able to move around ok and still appears very alert.

Does anyone have any idea of what caused this? Is it dangerous to the mantis? I can't see any damage to the outside of the exoskeleton. Also, I don't know if it's relevant or not, but this mantis molted to L6 about 20 hours before this happened.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Looks like the Chinese Bends to me. If he is able to eat OK, I wouldn't worry. (Though even if you do worry, it won't make any difference! )

 

[cloud jaguar]

That happened to my chinese -- it lasted two molts then went away when s/he became subadult. Of course s/he died after that

 

[-MK-]

Looks like the Chinese Bends to me. If he is able to eat OK, I wouldn't worry. (Though even if you do worry, it won't make any difference! )

He's eating right now. I put him and a cricket into a temporary container where he can't climb to the top, and he eventually got the idea and hunted standing right-side-up.

That happened to my chinese -- it lasted two molts then went away when s/he became subadult. Of course s/he died after that

Do you know how/why it happened? And do you remember how s/he managed to molt? It seems that in this condition, it would be pretty difficult to get the butt stuck to the lid of the cup before popping out of the old skin. I'm thinking this guy might need a stick or something to hang from.

 

[AmandaLynn]

That's happened to my Chinese as well. I don't know why it happens, but it's pretty common with them. It never caused any problems with molting for any of mine.

 

[Rick]

It happens but I doubt anyone knows why. Do a search and you will see threads about it.

 

[cloud jaguar]

Do you know how/why it happened? And do you remember how s/he managed to molt? It seems that in this condition, it would be pretty difficult to get the butt stuck to the lid of the cup before popping out of the old skin.

Mine had no problem shedding. He was living in a 1 gallon plastic jar with humidity foam, a foam feeding plug and ventilated lid with a central stick. You definitely need to put something for s/him to hang upside down while shedding - but that goes for any mantid.

 

[charleyandbecky]

I have had several Chinese mantids with this condition...it caused them no problems eating or molting.

Rebecca

 

[-MK-]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

I'm getting more nervous about my mantids as they get bigger and heavier, and therefore more affected by gravity. Also, they've only got a couple more molts left before becoming adults, so I want to do everything I can to make sure they emerge in top form. Your accounts of the same thing happening to your mantids helped ease my mind, so thanks again.

 

[-MK-]

Update: another mantis just molted, ate, and also got the bent abdomen. In the past, they just seemed to eat when they were ready, but as I mentioned, gravity is becoming more significant as they get bigger and heavier. Waiting an extra day for the exoskeleton to fully harden before feeding them large crickets seems like a good idea once they start to get big.

Another update: since I was lucky enough to catch the second mantis shorlty after the bent abdomen happened, I let him climb onto the outside of the screen lid of the big tank and then put a small plastic food container over him which wasn't tall enough to allow him to hang upside-down. As a result, he stayed upright all night while I slept, and once again appears to have a straight body today, even when hanging upside-down. I'm just sharing this in case someone else has the same problem - it appears to have worked for me so far.