She mismolted. I woke up the next day to find her on the bottom of the container stuck in her exoskeleton. I think she began molting from the side of the container rather than the shoe lace. No others had made this mistake. Youngling had been my favorite unfortunately. But now I think Vegrandis would be my favorite.
I took this photo of the part of her that hadn't gotten stuck in the skin. She was still alive but her arms and legs were stuck in the skin and so she couldn't move. I had tried removing it by gently stroking a wet paper towel against her but it tore. There was no way of helping her really. She was a real mess. I ended up squishing her, it's quicker than freezing them. So long as you squish the entire body rather than just the head. After squishing her, I fed her to my other mantids.
Well just thought I'd share this. I made it in dedication to Youngling. If there is a mantid heaven, I imagine this would be it! :tt2:
