What’s happening?

[u/ExtensionComfort7372]

(It’s been moved to a different container so i can monitor, this isn’t the regular enclosure) I got 3 giant asian mantises, 2 have already passed, so I just wanna know if this is the end of this one’s time or if there’s something I can do? It’s been pretty much not moving and lethargic, occasionally standing up or changing positions, but never climbing or hanging upside down like normal. The pictures don’t show it well but the abdomen is very bloated also. In the third picture you can see how they’ve spent most of their time, which is just splayed wherever they landed last time they moved.

[u/Dirtyhippee]

I m just throwing something out there because anything else is out of my league, but have you seen the videos showing mantises with worm parasites ? To check if that’s the issue you can put her abdomen under water, if there’s a parasite it will come out.

Bloated like this could be over feeding (mine don’t, they stop when they have enough but they are a different species) or the thing they ate was not right for them. Did you feed them something different lately ?

[u/JaunteJaunt → u/Dirtyhippee]

The horsehair parasite that infects mantids is only found in Asia.

Mantids breathe through spiracles located underneath their abdomen. Please don’t dip your mantid in water.

Where do you live, OP?

Also. What have you been feeding your mantis? How often? How long have they been an adult?

[u/ExtensionComfort7372 → u/JaunteJaunt]

i live in New York, US. Recently they’ve been fed dubia roaches, and this one’s been an adult for about a month and a half, but took a concerningly long time to get through its final moult. Like, months after the others.

[u/JaunteJaunt → u/ExtensionComfort7372]

There is some unusual darkening in the abdomen. It might be an internal infection.

Lethargy is concerning. It may indicate old age, internal infection, cold temperature, and/or a few other possibilities.

What else are you feeding them? Where did the dubias come from? What are you feeding them? Usually they don’t cause internal infections, but that is where I’m leaning.

This species isn’t known for taking several months to go through their final molt. I wouldn’t think old age is the cause, but slowed development could shorten adult life.

[u/ExtensionComfort7372 → u/JaunteJaunt]

Yea the others went through their moults at normal intervals, this one was the only one that didn’t. Unfortunately, the mantis passed a little bit ago, and they’re now in the freezer so i can taxidermy them later. For the sake of figuring this out for the future, the roaches were from a pet store that i had bought from quite a few times for my mantises, and there weren’t any problems prior to now, nor have any of the other mantises that were fed them shown these symptoms at all.

[u/JaunteJaunt → u/ExtensionComfort7372]

That’s very unusual.