Vomiting Please Help

[RedHead]

My mantis who i received as an L2 and has molted once is now vomiting a brown liquid. I watched her do it.  She started yesterday and has continued into today.  This was after eating quite a few fruit flies. Last night he was lethargic and this morning as well. I moved him into an area where the temperature was higher he then vomited a huge amount then crawled up to the cage which is what he does when he wants out. I took him out he seemed high energy crawling all around me and looking at everything. He will not eat honey he doesn't ever want it.  I sprayed water on my hand (filtered of course) and he drank twice.  I put him back in his vivarium and when I came back to him 45 min later he had vomited again but was cleaning himself and wanting to come out. Is there anything I can do. He does seem to want food I moved a leaf and he went for it like it was food.  I think he might be a she.  This all started after he/she gorged themselves on fruit flies. My ghost baby just eats a few and normally this one does too but when I looked the next day instead of seeing 4 or 5 left they were all gone.  I have not fed this mantis since then which was 3 days ago.  After eating all the fruit flies I did notice the mantis pooping quite a bit.  

Is there anything I can do? This mantis is my buddy we hang out for hours every night he perches on my computer while I do my work. I'm so sad.  The fruit flies I purchased are the same I always get and I have not fed anything else.  The honey I have is from my employee's own bee hive and is completely pure.  Also the amount of vomit is quite large and after he is finished he seems much more active. 

Any help would be appreciated. 

 

[CosbyArt]

@RedHead Vomit is usually a sign that the mantid ate too much, or ate something that did not agree with them. As it did gorge itself on fruit flies as you said it likely just ate too much.

If Patrick (or Patricia - maybe just call it Pat ) repeats vomiting again after it resumes eating it means the fruit flies are eating something in their culture making your mantid sick, in which cases it is usually a culture getting close to crashing and the remaining fly medium has turned bad. The easy solution is to switch to another FF culture to stop the problem.

The honey should help calm the digestion and get Pat back to normal, while giving a boost of energy.

As you mentioned warmer temperatures made it more active (although all the vomiting likely made it feel better), what is the normal temperatures of their habitat kept at?

 

[RedHead]

I'm not sure but they are kept in a case with no back but a light that keeps them heated.  Last night I mixed honey with water and he/she drank a ton but only when it was in a bowl that my daughter used for here dollhouse.  He then seemed to be much happier. I put the mixture on my hand as well and he drank that.  He definitely seems happy so I ordered new fruit flies to be delivered quickly.  He was actually on my computer trying to attack my mouse.  I cleaned out his cage as well and aired it out in case it was too humid.  He has not puked today and I feel much more optimistic.  He seemed back to his old self last night after I was able to give him the honey water and I even put honey on his feelers so he had to eat it. He was so much more active he jumped onto my face .  Is it normal to have mantis just be so chill hanging out watching the television and just content to sit on your arm. I read on one site handling them isn't encouraged but he literally wants to be out all the time he craves human companionship where as my ghost mantis seems hit or miss. Is it better not to feed him fruit flies until I get the new ones in they should arrive in 2 days. 

I'm amazed at how much I love this little guy he also seems to love the T.V he follows the people movements.  He even was trying to attack my mouse on my computer.  He seems hungry but I definitely want to wait until the new fruit flies arrive. I was spraying his cage everyday but I think I'll cut back to every other for him.

Thank you for all your help

 

[CosbyArt]

@RedHead Great news, he sounds like he recovered already. If so it was likely he just ate too much.

I am responding in your new post about the physical interaction and TV.
 

 

[Ranitomeya]

I've noticed that sometimes I'll get mantises that vomit a lot and often they'll die unless kept pretty dry, warm, and kept moved into clean or disinfected containers after vomiting. I have a hunch that the issue stems from poor ventilation coupled with condensation or standing sources of water contaminated by feces and debris causes bacteria to grow. When the mantis gets thirsty and drinks from the contaminated water, they infect their digestive systems with bacteria. I've been able to keep some of the vomiting mantises alive, but they grow much, much slower. Sometimes they'll recover and stop vomiting without any discernible reason. Vomiting is a way for any organism to purge the digestive system of something bad. I'd imagine a gut full of bacteria blocking you up and preventing you from digesting food would count as pretty bad.

Some bacteria are known to cause blockages as they proliferate in in the digestive system of invertebrates and it makes them vomit. For example, fleas infected with bubonic plague become infectious after their digestive systems are blocked by growing bacteria, making them regurgitate bacteria-laden contents of their digestive system when feeding. It's obviously not bubonic plague they're infected with, but it's very likely there's some pathogenic bacteria that can take advantage of invertebrate digestive systems as a place to reproduce.