Wing problem?

[glock34girl]

Last night I watched my female H. majuscula molt to adult. She flipped and all that good stuff and when I went to bed around midnight she was hanging upside down expanding her wings. I woke up this morning to see that her wings are not flat and she is not hanging such that they would become nicely formed. Does it simply take longer? My male molted over night with great wings by morning.

 

[MandellaMandy123]

They should straighten out still, but maybe not. DO NOT DISTURB HER!!! If you disturb her, she may never expand her wings.

 

[glock34girl]

Yeah she is in her spot doing her thing. The tips of her wings are still sort of stuck together. They have been there since midnight. :-( no improvement.

 

[lancaster1313]

It seems as if her wings will stay as they are. The good news is that she will probably be fine, other than her appearance.

I am not completely sure about this, but I think that if her wings rub or touch something while she expands them, they can jam up like that.

The thing is that I have watched a couple of mantid's wings come into contact with container surfaces or decorations while they were expanding, just to turn out perfect.

I am not sure if it has something to do with too much or not enough moisture, either. :/

WolfPup may have a point about disturbance. Were there any flies in the container?

I wish I knew exactly why things like that happen.

Perhaps someone does?

 

[glock34girl]

I watched her molt. No live flys we're in with her. She molted with plenty of room all around her. She did seem to spend a lot of time hanging before the flip but Iam not sure if that contributed. As far as moisture she was sprayed 2 times a day, was on humidity trays and a plastic bag over her cube to hold humidity. Bummer that her wins didn't come out. Will it affect her breeding?

 

[Mr. Hyde]

She may spread them one day and they will separate, maybe not. But the good news is they don't use them for hunting so she should live a very normal life. I wouldn't be surprised however if there were some challenges breeding. The male sits on her outer most wings while they connect, right? So that may be an issue. But nature finds a way if it is meant to be, and she should be fine.

 

[MandellaMandy123]

I'd also like to bring up that it is possible to cut them shorter, as this will not cause the mantis pain and may help her to be able to move and breed.

 

[glock34girl]

Ahhh I didn't know that. Well.... We are officially at 24 hours post molt so ill see how she's doing next day or so and if she's active and doing her thing and eating then ill leave them be until we cross the breeding path.