Vomit?!

[gerald379]

Hey guys, have any of you had a mantis vomit? My h grandis hasn't been eating for about a week - doesn't seem interested at all. He's just very slow and lethargic - he walks strangely and his forearms seem a bit injured. Most distressingly I've seen him vomitting black 'bile' (for lack of a better word).

He's about L5, and moulted about two weeks ago, so I don't think that he's not eating because he's about to moult. Plus he ate quite happily after the moult, seemed like nothing was wrong.

I did feed him a meal worm at some point, but that was the only thing that's been any different recently. Don't know if that means anything

Any ideas? Should I try feeding him dead crickets, as he doen't seem capable of catching them himself? Any help would be great. Hope its not a lost cause

 

[robo mantis]

Never a lost cause always hope . Ok it was vomit it happens when they are sick you should mist him so he drinks and gets energy. Don't feed dead food because the food can be bad when dead your best bet is to get a tweesers and grab a live cricket and put that infront of it and the cricket will be still moving so the mantis should grab it. If it doesn't attack it move it back and forth in front of it. If that fails then you should put the cricket on the mantids mouth and it should start eating. Keep us updated!

 

[Rick]

I've had it happen from time to time with all kinds of mantids regardless of what they ate. Sometimes it goes away and sometimes it continues until the mantis dies.

 

[Chrome]

I had no idea they could vomit... or sunbathe. Learning alot this evening!

 

[OGIGA]

Sometimes, my mantises get scared of their food when I put it in front of them. For crickets, I pull off their hind legs (the strong ones) so that they don't make sudden moves. Sometimes I chop the cricket in half so that it won't be so big. Yeah, it's a bit cruel, but it has worked for me.

 

[gerald379]

Think he's a goner. Not looking good at all. Pretty upsetting, i'll check again in the morning but I don't reckon he'll last the night. The extra spray did seem to help a bit, maybe too little too late

 

[Chrome]

Sad to hear I hope hes ok

 

[Ian]

There is a thread on this somewhere else in the forum, where Christian gave some detail as to why this happened.

Do a search and you will probably find!

 

[patdbunny]

Would it be helpful to feed gatorade or pedialite to a vomitting mantis.

. . . or is everyone cracking up laughing right now at the suggestion. . .

Roz.

 

[Rick]

Would it be helpful to feed gatorade or pedialite to a vomitting mantis.. . . or is everyone cracking up laughing right now at the suggestion. . .

Roz.

:lol: Yeah I am laughing over here.

 

[wuwu]

Would it be helpful to feed gatorade or pedialite to a vomitting mantis.. . . or is everyone cracking up laughing right now at the suggestion. . .

Roz.

i only smirked.

 

[OGIGA]

I had a dream this morning that some crickets I kept vomitted. I blame it on this thread.

 

[robo mantis]

lol wow thats a random dream lol

 

[patdbunny]

Okay. You all are no help! That was a serious question/recommendation! :lol: :shock:

So, no gatorade, huh. . .

 

[gerald379]

Thanks Ian, found that old thread, very informative. Unfortunately too late - he died last night.

Cheers for the help anyway guys. Think I'll stay clear of crickets for a while, maybe some grasshoppers next time round, and try and get some variation elsewhere.

 

[robo mantis]

yeah it happens somtimes.

 

[neburg964]

Don't know about Gatorade or PediaLite, but I had a mantis that wasn't eating so I gave her chicken broth. She seemed to like it, never turned it down.