Mantis going insane?!?..and an ooth!?! ahh!

[joeyboy]

Ok so I'm all "oh my gosh" right now.

Basically my mantis started acting out today. I found it on the floor of the flexarium, i blew on it and it just twitched slightly. So I misted it and left it. Then it started having a spasm, like running in circles moving it's legs too fast. Then it was on it's back curling it's rear end over, like it wanted to get it to it's mouth.

Then a few mins later it was back high up in the flexarium doing laps of the walls very fast, it's still doing it, it's never active like this, it hasn't stopped for an hour and it's scratching the corners and mesh like mad.

I've just noticed about two thirds of the way down one of the corners of the flexarium(wooden corners, custom made.), there's what seems like an ooth to me. Big brown thing moulded onto the wood.

Firstly, is my mantis now dying or something?

Secondly what do I do with this ooth? It's totally glued on.

It may be fertile as I mated my females a few months back, I assumed since she didn't make an ooth a few weeks after mating nothing was going to happen.

Any help people?

[Ozgi]

I've never heard of one going that mental, although they do act a bit strange/defensively after laying an ooth. There's not much you can do really, just give it a spray and a feed and see if it settles down again. What species is it?

You can leave the ooth where it is or remove it and put it somewhere safe. Wherever you leave it make sure it can handle a load of nymphs appearing suddenly! Just give it a light spray every other day or so to keep it hydrated. If you do decide to remove it, give it a few days to harden up before you do it.

[garlicpickle]

One of mine went completely mental like that. She was striking out at nothing and wouldn't eat. Over a couple of days she became more sluggish and kept losing her balance and falling off her branch. She was very fat and kept wiggling her abdomen as if she needed to lay an ooth but couldn't manage it for some reason.
In the end she got so weak she couldn't stand on her feet anymore and I made the decision to freeze her. I think she had got egg-bound and the pain and stress of trying to lay the ooth was too much for her.

Hopefully as yours has managed to lay her ooth, she'll be OK. Unless she's trying to lay ooth number 2 and is having problems. I hope she recovers mate.

[joeyboy]

Originally Posted by Ozgi

I've never heard of one going that mental, although they do act a bit strange/defensively after laying an ooth. There's not much you can do really, just give it a spray and a feed and see if it settles down again. What species is it?

You can leave the ooth where it is or remove it and put it somewhere safe. Wherever you leave it make sure it can handle a load of nymphs appearing suddenly! Just give it a light spray every other day or so to keep it hydrated. If you do decide to remove it, give it a few days to harden up before you do it.

It's a Hierodula Unimaculata( that's what it says on bugzuk anyway, which is what I ordered.)

I think I'll leave it as I don't want to risk breaking it, it really is attached quite strongly to the corner and I don't want to cut into the ooth trying to dislodge it. My only concern would be the mesh bit be too big to keep in tiny fruit flies for when they hatch out. I need to find a ruler and measure the gaps then see how big fruit flies are.

[Ozgi]

Once it has dried out after a few days you should be able to give it a little nudge and it will come away from whatever it is stuck on. They are pretty strong! If the mesh is too big for fruit flies you are gonna be in trouble, lol.

[joeyboy]

Originally Posted by Ozgi

Once it has dried out after a few days you should be able to give it a little nudge and it will come away from whatever it is stuck on. They are pretty strong! If the mesh is too big for fruit flies you are gonna be in trouble, lol.

exactly lol!

what kind of size tub do you put an ooth in? 5l cereal container?

Also how do you which is the bottom of the ooth? It's kind of sideways and there's not an obvious end lol.

[Ozgi]

Originally Posted by joeyboy

exactly lol!

what kind of size tub do you put an ooth in? 5l cereal container?

Also how do you which is the bottom of the ooth? It's kind of sideways and there's not an obvious end lol.

I keep mine in large sweet jars, gives the nymphs plenty of room. You can keep them in anything though, anything secure at least, lol. I'd use vermiculite for substrate to hold the humidity, don't use kitchen towel as the nymphs can get trapped in it.

The bottom tends to have a point to it, where it has been nipped off when she finished laying it. You can leave it sideways though if you like, the nymphs will find a way out, lol.