Manly the Mantis

[Elffy]

I had gone to a lovely bug fair and found a collection of Orchid Mantis's for sale. I immediately bought one and took the little guy home, along with a nice enclosure, a vial of flies, and a fake flowers stand.I have had the beautiful white male Orchid Mantis for a few months now. I felt so attached to him and loved him so much...He had gone through two molts just fine, and everything seemed to be going just fine. He suddenly stopped eating yesterday, and he started to get very wobbly to the point of not being able to stand on his own anymore. I was set for the worst,thinking it was his time, so I set him carefully into his enclosure and went to bed. I was pleasantly surprised this morning that he was in molting mode, so I went about my day. Later on when I got home, he was still molting when he should of been done hours ago. I searched up online what was happening and was devastated to learn that his molt had hardened to his body and that he was going to be unable to use his four legs and two arms along with moving his head until ultimately dying a long and agonizing death. He soon fell off the under part of one of the flowers and began twitching and flailing around which became too painful for me to look at. The hardest decision I had to make was to either put him into the freezer so he would fall asleep peacefully, or to have him die terribly over the course of several days. I decided to put him into the freezer, and after he passed away I dug him a small grave. The hardest part was to see there was no more life in his eyes when I was putting him into the ground...This just happened two hours ago and I've been crying almost non stop since it happened...I know it's just a mantis, but to see a living thing in so much pain was absolutely terrible...I also never got a picture of him because he was too small for my camera to focus on. It's always so hard to have a living thing die,he was just getting big and would of had such a longer life..

[Dewclaw]

It is always hard to lose a pet, no matter how big or small. I'm sorry for your loss.

[Vephriel]

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that. What a hard thing to go through, I can't even imagine.

Don't feel like you have to make excuses, you have every reason to be upset. I would be shattered if something happened to my tarantulas. They're living things, and they mean a lot to us. I think you did the right thing in letting him pass away peacefully, I probably would have made the same decision.

*lots of hugs*

[Elffy]

Thank you so much for your replies everyone. The hardest part of this for me was to put him in the freezer to let him fall asleep..I felt I was "playing God" by letting him pass away when I felt was right. I just wish we could talk to our pets to ask them what they wanted to do it would be so much more easier. I'm just so glad he isn't suffering anymore and that I was there for him every step of the way. I also saw several pictures of one of your tarantulas Veph and he is stunning!

[Slapperfish]

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[Lisaara]

Aw...that's awful! You did the right thing. Such a pretty boy. I went to google what the white orchid mantis looked like and boy were they gorgeous.

[Rawr]

It's sad when a pet dies, *sends many hugs* I bet he was beautiful and happy with you.