Moulting
Moulting can be the biggest danger to your mantis.
Mantises will feed until they are fat and when they are due to moult they will stop eating for a few days. Keep monitoring their environment so it is not too hot or cold and more importantly not too wet or dry.
Don’t put food in when they stop eating as it can disturb or dislodge them when moulting. They become inactive and stretch and flex to loosen their old skin and anchor their feet. Once their skin is loosened they are unable to move so if they lose their grip and fall they are unable to climb back up to hang.
If you find your mantis on the floor floppy or inactive HANG IT BACK UP IMMEDIATELY!
Time is of the essence here, with only minutes to hang it back up.
Be careful how you handle them. Manoeuvre them with a piece of net fabric or cotton wool and carefully place their feet to grip any surface they can hang from. Try not to pick them up between your fingers as they are very fragile during moulting.
After moulting they will need to harden their new skin for 24-48hrs, so again don’t put food in, but offer them a drink (by hand) the next day.
Mismoulting
Sometimes the mantis gets stuck whilst moulting. This can be due to lack of humidity, hydration or the mantis could just be a weaker individual.
When appropriate we will always help to give the mantis a chance to feed and grow to moult again as deformed claws and legs can correct with subsequent moults.
If claws or legs get trapped in the old skin, use a wet cotton bud to very gently remove the old skin. The legs may be too deformed for the mantis to manoeuvre or hang from.
The only chance the mantis has to survive and moult again is to hang back up. You can use the method shown in the picture to anchor the feet with poster tack, but do this very carefully.
Position the mantis over a suitably sized base covered in poster tack so that the legs are held in a natural positon.
Use precision pointed tweezers to gently stretch thin strands of poster tack over the feet to hold them in place.
Do not squash the legs. The poster tack should provide some purchase to anchor the feet, so the strands over the top only need a very light contact.
If the nymph’s claws have been affected and it can’t catch prey you will need to offer drink and food by hand until it is ready to moult again. It’s a good sign if the nymph is still feisty and has a good appetite once recovered from the moult.
To intervene like this (or not) is your choice and most importantly depends on the severity of the mismoult. It is a last resort and may not be successful. However, our philosophy is to never give up unless they do.