Tilly is my first mantis (female Timor Shield should be I4 I think as shield is developing), and due to my inexperience she had a bad moult that has caused her arms to be twisted. I acted as fast as I could but they hardened in a bad position and she can’t grab food. Her back legs were alright and she seemed enthusiastic about eating so I’ve been hand-feeding her to give her the chance to recover next moult.
We’ve come to a good understanding about the feeding process recently, she comes to the front of the enclosure when she’s hungry and wiggles at me when she sees me to let me know she wants her dinner. I had tried holding parts of the fly still for her but she kept pulling them off of the tweezers then dropping them, so now I rip it into tiny manageable portions for her to eat a piece at a time. If she’s still hungry she wiggles and when she’s full she tucks her head to the side. It was funny watching her slurp down a leg like a piece of spaghetti, but when she’s full had another one the knee was bent and it touched her which made her very upset. I think she isn’t going to like having to catch her own again food if/when her arms recover.
She eats enthusiastically, I’ve only had one day the last week where she’s refused food, which is encouraging for her recovery. She spends pretty much all of her time at the top of the tank, I think because she’s still struggling with movement on vertical surfaces with her arms like that. I have a macro lense on the way so I’m hoping I’ll be able to take some better pictures of her (it was super cheap though so it might be crap).