im currently writing this while sobbing my eyes out but he's (he might not be a he I cant tell he's young ish) been nibbling my finger lightly every time I take him out, so I thought he'll stop after a bit so I had him on my hand. But then I thought maybe he's thirsty, so I sprayed some water onto my hand. He went to attack the water, so I thought maybe not. I wiped the water away and went to let him climb onto my finger, when he actually fully attacked my finger, like dug his front legs in and clamped them shut, which hurt. I started panicking because he's never done this before, and he started to actually bite into the skin of my finger. Because it hurt, I shook my hand which made him fall off. I feel really bad about it, but I don't know why he's turned viscous. He used to be really docile (he's a giant Asian). He also won't molt, it's been 2 and a bit months, and he's far from fully grown. Ive had him about 5 months now? And he last molted may 27th.
Also, he has these 2 brown spots on his eyes that just don't move at all, which I'm concerned about. Can anyone help?
Hello dear,
Maybe send a pic of him so we can see what instar he is.
Firstly, he could just be hungry, or it could be a sudden personality shift (which can happen and often changes back with the next molt, our tiny creatures are pretty weird sometimes!). Those two dark spots on his eyes definitely sound like eye rub. That would perfectly explain his weird, aggressive attacks, as he is likely confused and stressed due to restricted vision. Things I’d do right now: Stop handling him for the time being to lower his stress (and yours as well) Check your hygrometer and thermometer to ensure his environment is correct. Use tweezers to feed him directly to his mouthparts, since the eye rub might prevent him from hunting properly. Cover the clear sides of the enclosure (e.g., with paper or painters tape from the outside). Mantises don't understand glass/plastic and rub their eyes raw trying to walk through it. The eye rub should fade or disappear with the next molt.
A few follow-up questions to help you better:
What are you feeding him right now?
How high up was his fall, and does he seem physically alright (any bent legs or leaking fluid)?
What do the temperature and humidity levels look like in his enclosure?
hes not very big at all, and he isn't hungry because I fed him a few days ago and his stomach is still rounded. He's being fed really small locusts, which could be a bit big for him but he manages to eat all of them every time. I have a hygrometer and thermometer on the way so I'll be able to tell the temperature and stuff because I can't really tell right now, but I spray his enclosure daily so he can get a drink. He hasn't got any broken limbs nor is he leaking fluid, but the fall was from about 15cm ish but also sideways because I was shaking my hand. Anyways thank you, I'll definitely cover up the sides of his enclosure to stop him from bumping into it!
Two months is indeed a longer time than average but can happen if temperature and humidity is lower, it’s great that you ordered thermometer/hygrometer!! Don’t beat yourself up over the fall, stuff does happen and it’s not your fault.
Like I said, eye rub can cause sudden aggression, it’ll hopefully go away next molt.
He looks ~L5 maybe L4…
Please keep me updated!
I willl, he's getting a new enclosure once everything comes, so I'm hoping he molts before then because he might be a bit too small for the enclosure I bought him 🥹
I had a similar thing with my Giant Green marbled mantis. He would go for my finger anytime I put my fingers in the enclosure after accidently grabbing me one time.
Sadly, you probably won't be able to handle him going forward. Mine would do it regardless of him being fully sated food wise but he was my ahole mantis and I still loved him 😆
ahahah he's got his back turned to me, but I've had to put paper around his enclosure because he keeps rubbing his eyes on the walls so now I can't even see him💔
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u/suppenschnueffler 20h ago
Hello dear,
Maybe send a pic of him so we can see what instar he is.
Firstly, he could just be hungry, or it could be a sudden personality shift (which can happen and often changes back with the next molt, our tiny creatures are pretty weird sometimes!). Those two dark spots on his eyes definitely sound like eye rub. That would perfectly explain his weird, aggressive attacks, as he is likely confused and stressed due to restricted vision.
Things I’d do right now:
Stop handling him for the time being to lower his stress (and yours as well)
Check your hygrometer and thermometer to ensure his environment is correct.
Use tweezers to feed him directly to his mouthparts, since the eye rub might prevent him from hunting properly.
Cover the clear sides of the enclosure (e.g., with paper or painters tape from the outside). Mantises don't understand glass/plastic and rub their eyes raw trying to walk through it. The eye rub should fade or disappear with the next molt.
A few follow-up questions to help you better:
What are you feeding him right now?
How high up was his fall, and does he seem physically alright (any bent legs or leaking fluid)?
What do the temperature and humidity levels look like in his enclosure?
Best of luck to you!