#the worst that’s happened since the mismolt was being aggressively accosted by a Texas ironclad beetle

[galacticnova3]

@onenicebugperday Bit of an unfortunate update, but not without hope.

A week ago as of posting this, Green Bean Casserole had a pretty severe mismolt. I think they fell and got stuck behind their favorite stick in an awkward position after leaving the exuviae. I only found and assisted them the next morning, but by then their exoskeleton had already hardened up. Thankfully all of their limbs are intact and functional, but, well... The situation is far from ideal, as you’ll see.

At first I was pretty worried they wouldn’t make it; they seemed to be struggling to move around due to the deformity, falling when climbing and generally looking wobbly. I moved them to a different terrarium set up for my flat headed snake Absinthe, both because of the softer substrate and the lack of skinks that might be bold and attempt to take advantage of a weakened mantis. I wasn’t even sure if food would be able to pass through their system, and they had no interest in prey at all, which wasn’t a good sign. However, with some adjustments to the layout of the temporary terrarium I moved them to, they did climb and manage to hang from the lid with some effort. GBC seemed like they were a fighter, and the day after the bad molt they accepted and ate a grasshopper, so I decided to see if I could get them to their next molt and hopefully allow them to recover.

They’ve since adapted to their new shape, and I’ve moved them back to their usual terrarium for easier monitoring and better sun access. They’re climbing and hanging without falling, eating well, and drinking water droplets from the screen lid when I water the terrarium. I’d say they’re about as close to thriving as they could be in this situation! Here’s how they’re looking today. Ignore the escapee grasshopper in the background, its jailbreak was short lived…

I do feel a bit mean for making this comparison, but…

There’s a bit of a resemblance, isn’t there?

#rambling #insects #bugs #praying mantis #mantis #carolina mantis #they’re doing much better than they were #I’m confident they’ll make it to the next molt #really my only worry is whether they’ll be able to successfully complete it with the unusual shape they have #just have to wait and see when the time comes #overall I’d say it’s kinda just business as usual for them: eating bugs and hanging out watching the world below #and getting watered by accident sometimes #the worst that’s happened since the mismolt was being aggressively accosted by a Texas ironclad beetle #which is to say it had climbed onto the lid and slowly meandered up to them #and they responded by trying to smack it away only to end up falling themselves #the beetle was of course unfazed and continued on its way before climbing back down on the other side #life for the cow bugs is slow and simple…