What is the best food for rehydration?

mcervig@yahoo.com · Oct 17, 2014

I went on vacation a month ago and I had hired someone to take care of my place and mantids. He was supposed to take care of the little guys every other day, but he came less than that. Now I have 3 mantids that are egg bound!!! My guess it is due to dehydration since my place has 0% humidity and the A/C was on at 78 degrees constantly. Normally I re-wet a paper-towel or sponge on the floor of their cages twice a day, and the A/C is on 73 degrees at night-time. THE WORST THING: He left the heat lamps on 24/7!!! So, it must have been a shock to the mantids to have light and heat ALL the time, and less humidity.

Is it possible to re-hydrate them? I constantly give them water. One of them is not pooping either!

Is there anything I can give them to help them? They are so fat too. I don't know what to do!

Thank you!

Bugmankeith · Oct 18, 2014

Mist with water using a spray bottle. Can o crickets and mealworms have lots of water if you can get them to eat it.

Aryia · Oct 20, 2014

Sometimes mantises just take longer to lay when temperatures have been low and haven't been fed much. I've had a couple girls that looked like they were about to blow and have taken more than 6 weeks after mating to lay. One of my rhombodera females actually made her first ootheca in her 8th-11th week ( I stopped counting cause I honestly thought she wouldn't lay).

There's really no need to wet your mantises that much. I mist my adult females once every week and I haven't had a single problem with them. Keep in mind that they are close relatives of roaches which tend to live through all kinds of conditions. Egg-bound mantises are actually quite a rare occasion and they will create dabbles of foam when they are indeed egg-bound.

I would spray a little bit of water on the side of the enclosure near them and if they are thirsty they will lean down to drink from it. Don't over-mist, I personally had disastrous effects when i tried to mist my mantises daily, they really don't like having wet feet all day. I believe your girls will lay when time comes, provide them with some natural material (leaves/sticks, depending on species) which might tempt them to lay. They will start to wander a couple days prior to laying. And trust me, I've never seen a mantis blow up from being too fat though I've really believed that some of mine would. So I would keep feeding them, but feed them moderately.

mcervig@yahoo.com · Oct 24, 2014

Thank you! I got my eldest to lay finally! She was laying eggs without ooth for a while, then for about a month she would try to lay and nothing would come out. Finally, I put her on a fichus tree in my bathroom with the windows wide open for fresh air and sun. When I checked on her she was rigid and was convulsing. I thought she was dehydrated so I kept giving her water. I really thought I has lost her! I put her back in her cage, and she finally (after almost 5 months) laid a normal looking ooth! (and she is ok) Yay! So, I did the same thing with 2 others that were not laying eggs. One looked sick as well with rigidity (not as bad as my eldest), but then she laid! Unfortunately, my 3 legged one is stuck in a position with her back segment open.

I don't know how to help her?

Now, I'm trying it with my FAT one that had never laid in 4 months as an adult. She is just happy on the tree. She still won't lay.

(I think am doing something wrong because all my indoor mantids seem sick compared to the outdoor mantids).

Anyway, thank you for helping!