Plastic Containers! Mis-molt avoided!

Just a quick story I have to share...

So I have relatively difficult to find species, Stagmomantis Californica. Not impossible, but not entirely common to find.  I have raised a single male nymph right up to last night when I walked in to my mantis room and found him starting his final adult molt, but from the slippery plastic side, and not on any of the carefully placed branches or the incredibly over engineered molting surface on the ceiling I put in the enclosure... ? Figures!

Within a few seconds of realizing he was in trouble, he fell! (Not far ?)

I sprung into action and grabbed a pair of forceps and pinched the very end of his back leg  portion of the exuviae.

After a momentary sense of relief that he was safe I found myself standing there wondering how long I could hold this position while l continued squeezing with the forceps. After all he will also need to "flip" at some point and then hang butt down so his wings can fill and dry... This could take some extended time!

So I grabbed a blue "Quick Clamp" to hold the forceps in the squeezed position, then hung him up over his container with a mesh cloth drapped over the top for the "flip"

Long story short, he pulled off the final Molt perfectly and his wings shaped without any flaws!

Pics are not as clear as I didn't want to disturb him during the most so pics shot thru container.

Whew! ?

Major lesson learned: ?

Plastic is great for viewing, but always filled with inherent risks for Mis-molts no matter how much I try to avoid.

This one lucked out that I was there to fix a situation I ultimately created.

Such beautiful and amazing creatures, but at the same time so delicate and vulnerable at times!

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Nice save!

They always seem to pick the worse molting places no matter how hard you try. I've been moving away from plastic containers to ones with 3 mesh sides, a mesh top, and a front plastic viewing window to attempt to limit their ability to be idiots. So far it seems to be working.

So true!

@Kermit 

I had to hold mine for 37 mins while he completly molted on me XD.

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Phew, nice quick thinking.  Glad it all worked out.

@Ocelotbren

Thanks... I felt like a real MacGyver!

Most fortunate timing & quick engineering Kermit. Most mismoults happen when assistance is not around......... I know we've all had that happen............  S

Glad u saved him! I once had to save a paradoxa female who fell out of her molt luckily I foubd her right then positioned her on a collection of sticks so she could curl out her winngs and such, very stressful. 

Some sp are like the experts at finding the worst spots to molt so I usually just dont put anything except 1 net on the top, havent happenned to me yet thst they would try to molt from the slippery side lol your male is a special one  

Lol... Now I've moved like 5 other mantis into other more "molt-secure" quarters!

?

It's like the whole mindset of eradicating mis-molts forever, like a Dr. of chemistry and genetics finding how to beat Cancer... It's just one of the major challenges that goes with the hobby ?

@Kermit Glad you were able to save him and get him setup for the molt, ingenious.

Way to go, Kermit! So glad this had a happy ending and that you were there with a solution. 

Denise 

Thanks for the replies ?

I share this story also for others that might also be able to save a PM in a similar situation.

I'm sure many of you have had a situation where you find your PM in a mismolt condition and because they're ultimately vulnerable your afraid to try and save them for fear of making things worse.

Over the years this has happened to me countless times always leaving me feeling guilty that I could have done something better to prevent the mismolt, or how could I have saved it once noticed. Now I know!

I've been thinking about creating a device that I can keep close by that could act as a life preserver in the event a mismolt is observed.

I always wondered if I were to pinch the back leg of the exuviae if it would damage or deform the back legs themselves? Well it worked this time perfectly. The actual legs were already down away from the shed enough that they were not stuck. I thought at the time that if they did pinch the actual legs in the process, at least the wings could form naturally. But he turned out 100% and I couldn't believe it!

My idea is to fashion some sort of "clip", like a spring loaded clothespin, but with precision ends that could be placed accurately on the end of the shed then safely secured back in the PM's enclosure for them to complete the Molt.

So much is written on prevention - little on what to do in an emergency. These could be called the "Mismolt Recovery Clips"!

Stay tuned for pics of some preliminary prototypes!!!

Kermit ?

?Alligator clips!? Would work perfectly!

Kermit said:

?Alligator clips!? Would work perfectly!

Click to expand...

Yes it would depending on the location.

If though trying to fix a molting mantid that hasn't completely fallen yet I read where MantidBro used scotch tape across dislodged shed exoskeleton legs to keep it secure to finish molting, and another time to reattach a fallen mantid that couldn't grip to molt. Tape can be a insect killer or maimer at the least if caught on it, but he ensured no sticky was exposed for the mantid to find after molting, and removed it soon after the molt.

@CosbyArt leave it to CosbyArt to share some history... ? Awesome! I knew someone had to have tried something.  Yes tape is a nightmare. 

Ordered some clips from Amazon ?

Kermit said:

@CosbyArt leave it to CosbyArt to share some history... ? Awesome! I knew someone had to have tried something.  Yes tape is a nightmare. 

Ordered some clips from Amazon ?

Click to expand...

Haha, it was the method that stuck out to me as tape is such a problem; although, I am sure there are other methods I read but don't remember.

Glad to see you got some clips rom Amazon, much cheaper than the usually local RadioShack alternative. Great to have, but hopefully you won't need them.