This morning, I went to feed the nymphs, but something seemed off. I noticed an exuvia—one of the smaller nymphs had just molted—but the nymph itself was lying in a strange posture and wasn’t moving. When I gently touched it with tweezers, I realized it was dead.
It seems that it became a victim of cannibalism right after molting.
When I removed it from the tank and turned it over, I could see that the lower right part of its body had been bitten off (the exuvia is to the right in the photo). Newly molted nymphs are soft-bodied and particularly vulnerable to cannibalism.
In this case, though, it was basically a man-made disaster—my fault.
The day before yesterday, I had changed the water (which generally stimulates molting), but last night I drank too much wine and went to bed without feeding them. The nymph, stimulated by the water change, molted as expected, but at that exact moment, a hungry tank mate ate it…
Cannibalism at this timing is especially painful. With this loss, only three final-instar nymphs remain in the tank. What a blow.
Even the sunflower seems disappointed.
The remaining nymphs are expected to emerge as dragonflies by mid-next week. I hope to get all three safely through to emergence—and if possible, I’d love to capture the moment on camera at least once.