Face rot on mantid...

[joeyboy]

I believe I've seen this before but my old gal has come down with it.

She's been mature about 6 months now, laid an ooth a couple of weeks back which will hopefully be fertile. Recently she's been a bit more lethargic, not always interested in food, but will suddenly seem to have a burst of activity, run around the mesh, try to fly, scratch at things, almost manically, then calm down and hang from the top again as usual...

I thought this might be a sign of her getting past her best before date, so to speak, but now its worse as she has got this. I didn't notice this 2-3 days ago when I offered her a hopper, which she took though didn't finish(she's been doing that recently, only eating half then dropping it.).

Here are some pics, not the clearest as she wouldn't stay still and I was using it free-hand not on a tripod. She's gotten much more calm now though, doesn't even attempt to stop me guiding her out, she's really slowing down, though right now she's doing slow but sure laps of the 60x40x40 flexarium again.

[connor 1213]

poor wee thing

[spicewwfc]

This happened to me a while ago when using hoppers. It looks like your mantis took a kick to the eye that would explain the uneaten meal, it might be a good idea to pull the legs off the locusts in future.
My mantids injury wasn't quite as bad as this one and she lived for several months after the incident, but she did permanently lose the use of the one eye.
Its a real shame but these things happen. Hopefully your ooth will be fertile.

[joeyboy]

Originally Posted by spicewwfc

This happened to me a while ago when using hoppers. It looks like your mantis took a kick to the eye that would explain the uneaten meal, it might be a good idea to pull the legs off the locusts in future.
My mantids injury wasn't quite as bad as this one and she lived for several months after the incident, but she did permanently lose the use of the one eye.
Its a real shame but these things happen. Hopefully your ooth will be fertile.

I doubt that's the case as I did actually pull off the back legs and also this was a relatively small hopper, it's also not the first time she's not eaten something, last 3 meals have only been half to 2/3rds eaten. But obviously she's rubbed it on something, I mean she might have rubbed it on the mesh or the wood in the corners in one of her manic episodes.

[Ozgi]

Did you notice her eye having black smudges/spots in it before it got like this? Sometimes they can rub their eyes on the side of the enclosure and if it gets worse and worse can lead to the eye actually being destroyed.

Sadly I don't think she has got much longer in her.

[joeyboy]

Originally Posted by Ozgi

Did you notice her eye having black smudges/spots in it before it got like this? Sometimes they can rub their eyes on the side of the enclosure and if it gets worse and worse can lead to the eye actually being destroyed.

Sadly I don't think she has got much longer in her.

I didn't notice but It could have happened. She's been acting weird recently. I'll find her on the floor on her side and think she's dead, when I blow on her she'll roll over and then walk right to the top of the flex...like nothing happened. I think she's losing her grip these days.

Not sure how long mantids are expected to live really. My first(likely WC) lived quite a while actually, longer then this one if she dies in the next few weeks, though I think it was a diff species so the lifespan might be a tad different.

[utterbeastage]

Originally Posted by joeyboy

I didn't notice but It could have happened. She's been acting weird recently. I'll find her on the floor on her side and think she's dead, when I blow on her she'll roll over and then walk right to the top of the flex...like nothing happened. I think she's losing her grip these days.

Not sure how long mantids are expected to live really. My first(likely WC) lived quite a while actually, longer then this one if she dies in the next few weeks, though I think it was a diff species so the lifespan might be a tad different.

The exact same thing happened when my female congo died , she'd lost all the hooks on her feet , her legs seemed to have dried up completely and it seemed she had no feeling in them , parts kept breaking off , same with her front forearms and antennae , they just seemed to dry up and snap off, she was like this for a good couple of days though, tough little bugger.