Why is my Idolo puking?

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MantidBro

MantidBro

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Okay so my new Idolo puked tonight after I gave him/her water. Do any experienced Idolo owners know why? I only fed him/her two blue bottle flies in three days. I have offered a fly every day but he/she didn't take it today. I have not fed him/her anything else. I thought flies were supposed to be fine? I was thinking maybe it wasn't related to the food, but the temperature? I haven't provided humidity but have given the mantis water from my finger which I dripped on his/her head. He/she wiped it off with his/her raptor then drank it off his/her claw. I have been doing that a couple times a day. He/she gets a heat lamp of about 70-75 degrees and the lights go off at night time. The mantis is in a container with coconut fiber along the bottom (lid is netting).

Today is the first time I saw him/her actually puke. I had seen spots of puke in the container I received him/her in but hadn't thought it was him/her because she/he ate blue bottles and didn't puke afterward. I received 2 Idolos in the same container and one was dead, the head was eaten off. Perhaps that was the one that had been puking and when the surviver ate that one, it became infected as well, and it took a few days to build up in his/her system?

Why exactly do you think he/she is puking? I don't understand and am quite bothered about it. I'm worried it may be detrimental.

 
You are over feeding. 2 maybe 3 BBs a week is fine. One every day will result in puking.

 
I've had a number of mantises puke. It usually means they are sick, and they then turn black and die.

 
jetsky82 said:
I've had a number of mantises puke. It usually means they are sick, and they then turn black and die.
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ive dealt with that too but only when id been feeding them crickets, turns out i must be over feeding

 
What color is the puke?

Sometimes when you handfeed them water, the mantis actually drinks the water without wanting to (especially if it's trying to clean itself). They will puke the water that they didn't want to drink back up, and it's usually either clear or very light brown liquid.

Sometimes mantises will puke prior to an incoming molt. Generally as long as the puke doesn't smell very bad it should be fine.

Not sure what instar your mantis is to be feeding one BBF everyday. For my younger nymphs from L4-presub I usually feed 1-2 BBF every 3 days (of course, depending on species). For most of my presub/subadults I feed them daily or every two days (amount of flies here really depends on the species and gender). For example my empusas I only fed one per day, but the orchid females take up to 5-9 flies every day already at presub. I've been feeding them constantly at that rate and they are molting and acting just fine. I regularly "overfeed" mantises in order to time breeding pairs and have yet to link any severe issues to it, I tend to believe that mantises will stop eating when they're full. I find that things like keeping the enclosure too wet/too dry cause more problems.

Wish you luck with your Idolo : )

 
Lou said:
Dude that stinks,hopefully it's just an overfeeding thing and it will be fine.The good thing is you can probably rule out crickets.
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i hope he/she will be okay i guess we will find out, thanks

 
Aryia said:
What color is the puke?

Sometimes when you handfeed them water, the mantis actually drinks the water without wanting to (especially if it's trying to clean itself). They will puke the water that they didn't want to drink back up, and it's usually either clear or very light brown liquid.

Sometimes mantises will puke prior to an incoming molt. Generally as long as the puke doesn't smell very bad it should be fine.

Not sure what instar your mantis is to be feeding one BBF everyday. For my younger nymphs from L4-presub I usually feed 1-2 BBF every 3 days (of course, depending on species). For most of my presub/subadults I feed them daily or every two days (amount of flies here really depends on the species and gender). For example my empusas I only fed one per day, but the orchid females take up to 5-9 flies every day already at presub. I've been feeding them constantly at that rate and they are molting and acting just fine. I regularly "overfeed" mantises in order to time breeding pairs and have yet to link any severe issues to it, I tend to believe that mantises will stop eating when they're full. I find that things like keeping the enclosure too wet/too dry cause more problems.

Wish you luck with your Idolo : )
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the puke is quite dark brown unfortuntaley. Though it didnt smell too horrible.Oh really? maybe i should just do a misting rather than a drop on the head, so theres not as much water to consume, if hes not thirsty? he only ever really drank once when i first received him the other times he shook it off or consumed it while cleaning.

i didnt keep the container too wet for sure but maybe too dry? ill start misting even though he doesnt appear to be ready to molt quite yet.

thank you

 
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sally said:
Make sure you keep it away from the others and really clean the enclosure.
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the little ones all alone, my only idolo, has his/her own jar

and its clean indeed, coconut fiber along the bottom as substrate, i only got him this week so i havent changed it yet of course but i will eventually

i will keep it clean though as time passes, thanks

 
PookaDotted said:
I hope it pulls through for you.
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thanks pooka, the little one seems to be doing well at the moment, enjoying the sun, swaying back and forth and is quite active, you wouldnt even think he/she had puked last night, my experience with puking mantids has never been a good one, they usually ended up dying, became slow and weak, at least Lucky isnt acting that way, so hopefully he/she will indeed pull through. maybe he/she really was just over stuffed and the water sent him/her over the edge

 
I hope that that was only the case. I'm starting to think since it's feeling better, Lucky is an appropriate name for this little one haha.

 
I think the issue is TOO much babying. He sounds like he is fine, but is somthered. Too much food is the big one, and the large droplets on the head is the other. Try misting instead, so he can drink the little droplets.

 
Falconerguy said:
I think the issue is TOO much babying. He sounds like he is fine, but is somthered. Too much food is the big one, and the large droplets on the head is the other. Try misting instead, so he can drink the little droplets.
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i just read something under the topic "idolomantis consolidated" where one of the main breeders said he feeds his L2s 1-2 Blue bottles a day so Im beginning to think that over feeding may not be the problem. maybe its because im giving too much water though, with the drip on the head. since last night i have misted instead. maybe because this species is so used to hot climates they dont really need as much water as my others.

 
Falconerguy said:
It is possible. What instar was this guy's nymph?
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his was the same instar as mine, L2, but he had nymphs from an ootheca, he actually breeds the species and raises them to adulthood successfully. i was sent 2 nymphs in the same container and their were spots of puke in the one Lucky was in, either it was Lucky puking or the other one. and the other ones head was eaten off, im wondering if Lucky caught that sickness after eating that ones head. either way someone was puking in there. i think because all the fruit flies had died in there, as the shipping took 7 days, thats a build up of bad bacteria. and if some fruit flies were living after others died, and theyd crawled on the dead ones, that means they had the bad bacteria on them, and if one of the idolos caught a living fly that had been on a dead fly, that bacteria would be transferred to them. i feel like people dont consider this a likely situation but how can it not be, is what i wonder. idolos are not supposed to be kept contained with dead prey, or living prey that had been climbing on dead prey. idolos are sensitive to bad bacteria, that is a known fact. im having trouble thinking of what else it could possibly have been, considering ive been going by the care sheet.

 
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