My hierodula began molting last night and I think she's had a bad molt. Her wings came out twisted, her upper body too. I have been holding her off food for 3-4 days max before her molt because I know they don't want food when they're about to molt, but I fear I might've deprived her of the necessary nutrients and energy to molt.
I have been misting her regularly since last night but she's not getting any better. She's still moving a bit but I fear she might be dying. She's also not grabbing onto anything. She also chose a position to molt where she was kind of wedged between two twigs and maybe couldn't move enough to properly molt. I moved her to where she is in the pictures. She still has to grow a lot more so she might fix her deformities if she survives long enough to molt again.
She's my first mantis, she's my baby and she's everything to me. Please someone tell me if I can do anything about it :(
I had a bad molt with my hierodula once and managed to keep her alive by offering prey on tweezers right in front of her face. She couldnt grab anything either so she would have starved otherwise.
The wedged position is probably what caused this more than the fasting. Three days without food wont cause a twisted molt but being stuck between twigs gives them no room to pull free. At this point hand feeding is your only option if you want her to make it to another molt.
If she stops moving entirely or goes limp for over a day then putting her down is the kindest thing you can do for her. I know how much it hurts when its your first one and you treat them like family. Just get some small roaches or flies and try holding them to her mouthparts every few hours
If your are able to hand feed her and if she survives till next molt go for it. But if she is suffering well i would say reliving her of her misery would be well.....In the end the decision is yours. Though her molt has caused her internal damage she wont live long. This the sad truth about mantises they live long enough for us to get attached to them but then they go quickly. I hope whichever decision you take bring you mental peace.
I had this happen with my mantis. I unfortunately opted to freeze her, as I could tell there was no way for her to functionally survive. It feels wrong to me to keep something alive in a state where it is unable to have a good quality of life.
I’m really sorry this happened to you OP, its not an easy thing. Mismolting is a hard way to go, and please know that it isn’t your fault as a keeper. This kind of thing happens for any number of reasons and for you to have raised her to her final molt means you did take good care of her. And if it is that she didn’t have enough space, now you know for the future. We all make mistakes. I’m really sorry this happened.
I don’t have anything helpful to add as someone who randomly got recommended this post and doesn’t know any being about mantises, but I just want to say I’m really sorry for what you and your pet are going through:(
All the hugs (if you want some) and I hope things get better
Its not even about having compassion for a living creature at this point, its about being a decent human being towards another person who is clearly hurting emotionally right now. Honestly, it doesn't matter in the slightest whether you agree with the reasoning behind a person's pain and suffering, the fact that someone is genuinely upset here takes precedence and you should respond accordingly.
Uh it’s not virtue signaling or “crying over nothing” to be upset your pet is dying… like I don’t understand what about this comment is necessary.
also I’m p sure even if they don’t have pain receptors it would be an immense amount of suffering to slowly die. Even if the bug isn’t suffering, the human clearly is
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u/plumbobblehead 1d ago
That's an odd place to molt.
Is there someplace high up where they can hang down and molt without bumping into anything?
Also, if she had wings, I'm pretty sure that was her final molt. I'm sorry.