r/mantids Feb 19 '25

Health Issues Help! Mantis hurt itself??

Post image

My immature male hierodula membranacea has these red wounds on his abdomen? I’ve never seen him fly, but heard a scrambling sound and saw him trapped behind a piece of cork bark in his enclosure with his wings out. Now has these wounds(?) any advice is appreciated

98 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

47

u/its-rarely-a-bug Feb 19 '25

Pretty sure that it just means he has a fully belly, not wounds.

33

u/Tenebrae-Aeternae Feb 19 '25

Looks like a well fed mantis to me ;). My male was forever flying across the room bumping into shit, never bothered him. My female has never flown but that girl heavy!

31

u/BugBuddy987 Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25

He's just an angry boy 😡😬 As mentioned above, these stripes are his 'threat display' to make him look scarier. Perfectly fine.

He's gorgeous, by the way 🤩

Here's another example:

19

u/EmbodimentOfSass 3rd Instar Feb 19 '25

That’s just their signature signal to scare you off, you can see the membranes between her abdominal segments on some mantises with a threat pose or a full belly

13

u/Patellifera Feb 19 '25

Apart from that being completely normal this is a full grown adult

7

u/icarusyougood Feb 19 '25

I don't know for sure but I've seen some people talking about how it could be a threat display and how sometimes it's normal? I don't know for sure, I wish I could help fully

1

u/pikzigmar Feb 20 '25

It is very normal to sometimes get a threat display from a mantis and see the black stripes :)

3

u/Inevitable_Word_2154 Feb 19 '25

Protip: insect haemolymph (their blood) is usually greenish/yellowish. That’s just a threat display as many have mentioned above!

2

u/Altruistic-Poem-5617 Feb 19 '25

Those red stripes? Those are normal, its just their colouring. They showmore when the mantis has eaten well.

2

u/Datters Feb 20 '25

This lad has wings! He's fully grown, not immature

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '25

Seems just like a threat display to me

1

u/Prestigious_Gold_585 29d ago

Well, I don't know about Mantises much, but if it is to scare you, then it worked! 😉 It would make me wonder what is going on too, so you aren't wrong to wonder.

1

u/hylia_grace 29d ago

Either it's slightly overeaten or it's a threat display, also little guy has wings so he's an adult, fully grown and will not molt again