# Mantis lost her claw



## stalincat (Nov 22, 2012)

Hey there! My Congo green is missing a claw after the moult. Is she going to be able to hunt with one claw? And what could have possibly happened to it?


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## Basin79 (Apr 1, 2014)

stalincat said:


> Hey there! My Congo green is missing a claw after the moult. Is she going to be able to hunt with one claw? And what could have possibly happened to it?


You'll have to hand feed it to make sure. And smaller items. Not sure what happened but the mantis obviously got stuck and sacrificed it.


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## stalincat (Nov 22, 2012)

thanks! Will she regrow it? she still has a lot of growing to do. 
Not sure if it's possible to get stuck anywhere in her jar though.. But for some reason the top part of the claw is missing, just noticed it today. She seems uninterested in hunting


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## Basin79 (Apr 1, 2014)

stalincat said:


> thanks! Will she regrow it? she still has a lot of growing to do.
> Not sure if it's possible to get stuck anywhere in her jar though.. But for some reason the top part of the claw is missing, just noticed it today. She seems uninterested in hunting


They need approximately 3-4 times there size to be able to hang down and she'd with no obstacles in the way. It could just be one of those things. I'm not sure if she'll regrow it but I imagine she will. Just kill the crickets by squashing their heads and offer it to her. If she doesn't eat gently try and touch her mouth with it. It should encourage her. Don't forget she'll need some time to harden after shedding.


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## stalincat (Nov 22, 2012)

Thanks a lot! I'll give her another day and try that tomorrow. 
damn those animals make me worried sometimes... When my emperor didn't eat for 5 months, I thought it would give me grey hairs ha


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## Basin79 (Apr 1, 2014)

stalincat said:


> Thanks a lot! I'll give her another day and try that tomorrow.
> damn those animals make me worried sometimes... When my emperor didn't eat for 5 months, I thought it would give me grey hairs ha


Scorpions are really hardy. She should eat a cricket tomorrow.


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Do you know what instar she is?

And sometimes things get stuck, or it could be that she knocked it some time before moulting and the new limb didn't grow right, all sorts of reasons. If the limb was malformed she may have self amputated, by which I mean eaten her own arm to get it out of the way. It's a way of reclaiming nutrients and might also serve some purpose in, in a few cases, stopping the next moult's version of the limb being similarly deformed. Also prevents inured limbs becoming infected etc.

When did she moult? Younger nymphs may resume feeding within a day of a moult, but as they get larger they take longer after moulting to be able to eat. 4-5 days isn't uncommon for later instars, depends on the species too, and even the individual mantis. I once had a male ghost mantis just stop eating at pre-sub stage after his moult, for several weeks...eventually it turns out he was just being a huge wuss about even houseflies, but was merrily eating fungus gnats, and eventually decided food wasn't scary and started eating again. I've also found that if you offer food too soon after a moult it can kinda spook them, and if you keep offering every day they'll keep refusing. A day or two without food disturbing them can be enough to let them chill out and start hunting again.

Either way, if you offer slightly smaller prey, she should be able to hunt fine with one arm. I'd not bother with hand-feeding unless she's completely failing to catch anything. All that regenerative ability would be pretty useless if she couldn't survive without a limb or two. Missing a raptorial can actually be less of an issue than losing a walking leg, as at least she should be able to moult fine.


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## Basin79 (Apr 1, 2014)

Hedgewitch said:


> Do you know what instar she is?
> 
> And sometimes things get stuck, or it could be that she knocked it some time before moulting and the new limb didn't grow right, all sorts of reasons. If the limb was malformed she may have self amputated, by which I mean eaten her own arm to get it out of the way. It's a way of reclaiming nutrients and might also serve some purpose in, in a few cases, stopping the next moult's version of the limb being similarly deformed. Also prevents inured limbs becoming infected etc.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that post. That's another thing I've learnt about these unbelievable little inverts.


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## stalincat (Nov 22, 2012)

thanks a lot for this great post!


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## stalincat (Nov 22, 2012)

she is eating like a pig today.. all good! :thumb:


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## Basin79 (Apr 1, 2014)

stalincat said:


> she is eating like a pig today.. all good! :thumb:


Fantastic news.


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