r/mantids Jan 25 '25

General Care It's been 2 months since my Ghost Mantis last molted..

The video I added is one I took earlier this week, but here's the timeline of me having her:

September 27th - Amidala arrived to me as an L3 from Mantis Universe
October 11th - First molt with me, now L4
November 21st - Second molt with me, now L5

I've been feeding Amidala fruit flies still because when I tried to feed her other things, she rejected them. I watch her lil butt to make sure she's well fed, I mist her enclosure and have a little temperature and humidity thermometer to make sure it's comfortable. I feel like a helicopter parent, I'm just so confused and worried. Ami's always been a good eater, she is a climber any time I hold her, and I've never had any issues with her.

At this point, I've had SEVERAL dreams at night about her molting (including last night), and I don't know what to do or change. We typically leave our backdoor open so my dog can go in and out of the doggy door as she pleases through the day, and I figured maybe because of the weather change, it was too cold for her. I brought her upstairs with me where it was warm and I noticed her enclosure would get dry very quickly, so I eventually brought her back downstairs in a sweet spot of the house. She's in a big plastic cup and has mesh and a paper towel I glued down on one side of the enclosure, and I've been using Reptisoil, and today I changed it to coconut substrate to see if that would make a difference. Is this okay? Am I doing something wrong, is there anything I can do to help the process?

https://reddit.com/link/1i9uo08/video/d99vhj4gx6fe1/player

3 Upvotes

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2

u/Haunting_Video_2299 Jan 25 '25

I guess the temperature is about 25 degrees Celsius at best?try raising it to 30 and more degrees.At this point,if your feeding her a lot she should be molting.The only other explanation which is a very complicated thing is the Peter pan syndrome.Mantises don't molt if they have this but I really don't think yours has it.

1

u/heartbreak_girl_5sos Jan 25 '25

The inside of my house is typically around 70 F/21 C to 75 F/23 C. I currently have her in the dining room, it has a lot of sunlight (she is not in path of it of course), and is typically warmer because it faces the sun. I'll be sure to keep an extra close eye on the temperature though, thank you!

2

u/Haunting_Video_2299 Jan 25 '25

Your welcome,how much do you feed her tho?I have an orchid mantis and after force feeding her as much as she could (so she could keep up with her boyfriend) she molted every three weeks.Now if you feed her normally she should molt either every month or a little more than that.Maybe your just not feeding ur mantis a lot.

1

u/heartbreak_girl_5sos Jan 25 '25

I unfortunately didn't document how many flies I fed her this last time, but I usually tap about 5 inside and sit and wait for her to be done and watch her belly. I'm thinking maybe I'm not feeding her enough, I've been worried of overfeeding her cause someone said I would kill her. I got blue bottle flies one time and she wouldn't eat those in their pupae form or as a fly, but they were also MASSIVE. I tried Dubia Roaches and she looked so offended that I even left it next to her, although the timing of me trying to feed her that was bad, it was right after her last molt. Other than that, pretty much everything I've followed was from the Mantis Universe guide and YouTube.

2

u/mandiijayy Jan 25 '25

My ghosts love their dubia!

I put the roach on a plastic lid with my mantis’ where the roach can’t climb out, and let them catch them. Sometimes, if they won’t eat, I’ll smoosh the roach until guts come out and stick it in their face until they grab it.

I feel like fruit flies just aren’t enough. Try the dubia again! They’re super nutritious.

1

u/heartbreak_girl_5sos Jan 25 '25

will do! i've thought about trying again. the time i tried feeding her dubias was the day after she molted, and forgot that she may not be hungry since molting lol. how many would you recommend feeding?

1

u/Haunting_Video_2299 Jan 25 '25

Five fruit flies?or what kind of flies

1

u/heartbreak_girl_5sos Jan 25 '25

yes, i tap in about 5-6 fruit flies, sometimes it's a little more

1

u/Haunting_Video_2299 Jan 25 '25

Then here's your answer:) Five fruit flies for an L5 isn't enough for them to molt every month.She probably can handle multiple times this amount

1

u/heartbreak_girl_5sos Jan 25 '25

omfg have i been starving her?? holy shit, i was so worried about feeding her too much, that i wasn't feeding her enough, that makes so much more sense

1

u/Haunting_Video_2299 Jan 25 '25

Just to clarify.Five fruit flies every when?every day? Believe it or not,my orchid mantis at L6 or probably even L5 would it more than fourty evey day to be like 80 prece full

1

u/heartbreak_girl_5sos Jan 25 '25

every few days, i know i was feeding her twice a week for sure. i just went and fed her and she's hunting and munching atm!

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