When or if one should rescue a mantis in trouble

[sk8erkho]

This morning around 1:39 am I was honored to be awake and alert enough to witness my first molt from the beginning stages. Usually I catch a glimpse after the process is just about complete where maybe 90-98% of the mantid's body is free. While watching. it appears this little guy may be in trouble at some point or perhaps that's just the appearance at this stage of the molt. It like, busts through at the wings and slowly wiggles the upper body and head slowly out somehow towards the back but no movement at the legs just yet. The entire abdomen was still mostly within the old exo. So, as usual I will just keep an eye on it to be safe.

My question is this, how may of you would jump at the opportunity to assist your mantid through a possible mismolt if you could? How do you decide when is the right moment to step in?

How many of you have in the past successfully assisted your mantid out of a trouble spot?

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Well since all of my mantises fall in the pet category, I would naturally love to step in and help them out of a potential mis molt. The truth is I doubt there would be much I could do for them. I'm not sure how I would even begin to help them out of such a delicate process without doing more damage than good. In the end the most I would probably do is perhaps free a limb or two after the shedding has taken place. I wouldn't jump in untill the mantis was pretty much hardened.

Thankfully, with all the mantises I've had I have never lost one or even had one loose a limb during molts. All of my babies have managed to make it out just fine on their own.

On occassion though I will get a baby or two that will get stuck during their inital exiting from a ooth. To those who are only stuck by a leg or two I'll often cut the limb so they can at least be free from their skin and have a fighting chance to survive. Not sure if any of them ever make it though since I release them and the majority of the babies in my garden after hatching and only keep a few healthy ones to raise up.

 

[sk8erkho]

Wow!! You're either lucky or really good with your babies!! I have had a few close calls and with tweezer and magnifying glass successfully rescued a tangled Chines nymph or two. But I read threads and hear of the various mismolt situations and wonder if that person had decided to step in at that particular time and carefully and patiently eased the skin off or whatever would they have had the same outcome as I did those two times. I Had one where by the time I even got to it it was already tangled and beginning to hardened in that "c" shape I've heard about. After that I decided to see if i could keep up with molt dates and times just in case. Don't get me wrong, nature has it covered. But, once in a while the worst could begin to occur and as you said, they fall under pet category for a lot of us. So, i was wondering how many others out there would do what they could??!!

 

[bubforever]

Yeah it would be much safer for the mantis to allow the mismolt to occur rather than risking a more serious injury. Keep us posted on how things turned out for your mantis.

 

[OGIGA]

I've helped a lot of my mantises before. Sometimes they dry before finishing so they get stuck. I add a little water and sometimes pull them out. And uhh, sometimes I accidentally pull off a foot or a leg.

 

[captainmerkin]

not a huge amount you can really do other than spraying them a little and using fine tweezers to help them if they get stuck..

this only seems viable on larger species though from my experience.

 

[Rick]

What you described sounds normal. They tend to hang with the abdomen still in the old skin for awhile.

 

[sk8erkho]

Well, he did just fine. Only a bit concerned with the rear end which did not seem to close fully and looks ripped and it still is not closed and it's been days. There is this huge bubble on one side and you can see his insides a bit. But other than that he seem s fine.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I just had a European mismolt, she was stuck with her wings inside, she fell to bottom of cage and I thought she would die. I left her alone and a while later I looked in on her and she was in same posistion. She looked bad, not moving even when I picked her up. But! i went ahead and pulled her out of the old skin and she if fine! That was 2 weeks ago and she is still here, ready to mate too! 8)