Yoda is throwing up (I think)

[Mantis Lady]

I gave him honey water and he drank of it. Did put him in a clean cup again and mist it so i can drink from there too. Will try to keep his fluids level up.  Poor thing... Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Synapze]

Sounds like you are doing all you can at this point. Hopefully all of the fluids will flush it all out soon.

Get better, Yoda!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Not sure if you have yet, but you could try a different type of feeder or a different batch.  Another factor is that you may want to wait a day after seeing vomit to try feeding again to let his system get cleared out.  You could keep up with the honey and water, but hold off on the food to make sure the bad stuff is out before feeding again.  Just an idea.

Hope it helps!

 

[Mantis Lady]

@Ocelotbrenwhat feeder should I give him? I have grasshoppers that are too big. Dubia's are way too big.  The little crickets I have bought specially for the little ones I have.

Yeah I think it is indeed better to keep him longer on honey water.

 

[Ocelotbren]

It doesn't matter really, just something different.  Flies are always a safe and easy option if you can get any, even by catching them outside.  Moths too if you're going that route.  I just figured you could rule out the possibility if the feeders being related to the problem by trying a new feeder.  One of my Rhomboderas just threw up recently after eating a cricket on two separate occasions even though the other two didn't react at all to crickets from the same batch, so I just give him flies now to be safe.

 

[Mantis Lady]

The others are eating the same crickets and they are all ok. He has eaten them too. Maybe I should buy him some flies. Maybe his stomach can handle that better.

 

[Synapze]

I feed all of my mantid's a diet consisting of blue bottle flies as the main staple, an occasional decapitated mealworm or mealworm larvae, and sometimes a found insect. I often throw in larger D. hydei as little treats for my larger mantids since I usually have them on hand. I know there's a debate over crickets or no crickets, but I just choose not to use them as feeders because I'm paranoid. 

 

[Mantis Lady]

i have always fed the very small ones on fruitflies an when they got bigger crickets, grasshoppers and dubias, maybe I should buy 1 culture of fruitflies for Yoda and give them as snacks for the bigger mantids.

with Cochise I had never problems with crickets. With more mantids in my collcection now, I can give them more various prey to eat to eat.

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Synapze I am glad the mealworms are decapitated!  

@Little Mantis Fruit fly cultures are very good sources of prey. Varied prey is good for the mantids!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

I hate fruitflies  because they want to run out of the cups instead of staying inside. But for sick Yoda I will buy them. He haven't vomited since yesterday afternoon. The honey water stays inside.

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Glad he is keeping the honey water down at least.

You can try chilling the fruit flies in the fridge for a few minutes to knock them out and when they start waking back up they will be slower and easier to deal with. I do that with the fruit flies that can still fly but for the flightless varieties I just keep tapping the cup on a hard surface every few seconds to knock down the ones climbing up the sides. Another way to manage them is to put the total amount you plan to use in a separate empty cup then add a small amount of finely powdered bee pollen or extra fine calcium powder and shake to coat the flies. It slows them down a lot until they clean it off themselves. The bee pollen is a bonus for the mantis nutritionally.

 

[MantisGirl13]

I am very glad he stopped vomiting for the time being, and I hope the honey water can help him get better! Can he catch the fruit flies by himself?

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

Havn't had put a few flies in his cup yet. Prefer to wait longer. But if he gets hungry then he can catch it himself. He doesn't seem weak.

@Predatorhousepetgood idea to put them in fridge for a couple of minuts too. Will do that before feeding Yoda or the other very small ones with it. With crickets it works fine.

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Little Mantis Make sure you don't forget about the ff in the fridge! I have done that, and when dad found the ff in the fridge he was a little upset  

- MantisGirl13

 

[Predatorhousepet]

@Little Mantis Make sure you don't forget about the ff in the fridge! I have done that, and when dad found the ff in the fridge he was a little upset  

- MantisGirl13

Lol, same. My roommate has found forgotten cultures in the fridge more than once and didn't appreciate that at all....so I bought a mini fridge to keep in my insect room. Now I store all the pupae there and use it to shock adult flies. The nice thing about this besides it being right next to my mantises is that I can keep this fridge slightly warmer than our food fridge so the pupa last longer.

 

[MantisGirl13]

@Predatorhousepet That is a good idea! I hate losing that many flies!

- MantisGirl13

 

[Mantis Lady]

@Little Mantis Make sure you don't forget about the ff in the fridge! I have done that, and when dad found the ff in the fridge he was a little upset  

- MantisGirl13

LOL, I think my husband has seen once a box with crickets in the fridge. I wanted to move them to clean box and when they are slowed down, they won't go jummping to everywhere. while moving them.

 

[MantisGirl13]

LOL, I think my husband has seen once a box with crickets in the fridge. I wanted to move them to clean box and when they are slowed down, they won't go jummping to everywhere. while moving them.

Haha! Yep, you never know what you'll find in the fridge when you are around us mantis people! My dad was complaining about fly pupae in the lunch meat drawer the other day  

- MantisGirl13

 

[Ocelotbren]

I try to keep my pupae out of the way in the fridge so as not to disturb my husband.   But I have forgotten flies in the freezer before and realized much too late that I had been about to feed my mantises at one point.  I have had blue bottles come back from being in the freezer for much longer than I would have expected them to survive though.

 

[MantisGirl13]

I try to keep my pupae out of the way in the fridge so as not to disturb my husband.   But I have forgotten flies in the freezer before and realized much too late that I had been about to feed my mantises at one point.  I have had blue bottles come back from being in the freezer for much longer than I would have expected them to survive though.

 Yeah, our fridge doesn't really have an out of the way spot. I hate it when I forget that I was in the middle of feeding mantids and go and do something else! I have left flies in the freezer, the roaches out, or the lid half off the mantis cage!  

- MantisGirl13