G. Smithii or an Imposter?

[Msby12]

Sorry i can't get any pictures, but here's the problem

about a month ago i got a small G. Smithii, or what i thought is one. I placed him in the tank with a conch shell as a home, and he went right in and took to sealing the hole with debris, and haven't seen him since.

Last week a saw some antennae, and every week i put one crab in and find legs and claws scattered around the next morning

He has the purple spots on the outside, but he's never done a meral spread so i couldn't see the meral spots

And Roy's List says the G. Smithii is very active! So what do i have?

 

[andromedia226]

Mantis' vary with individual personality. For example, I have one that's considered to be NONactive, but she's very very adventurous, and I had a g smithii that was rather placid.

I'd say he/she molted if you didn't see her for a week, but it sounds like you just have a mantis that keeps to itself. Does it have any scary tankmates, or enough rocks to hide in and feel comfortable?

Sometimes the smaller ones are scared for a while, then get used to the tank.... dunno.

Hope that sort of helps. The best way to determine animal type is by physical characteristics. Individual personalities will widely vary and can't really be used to ID a mantis.

Again, hope that helps. I'm not an expert or anything!

 

[Msby12]

well this is my 2nd G. Smithii, and the 1st one was very reclusive also, there are no tankmates, (unless you count the doomed crabs ) and there is a large conch shell that it has taken to

And the reason i think it's a Smithii is due to the Green Coloration and Purple spots on the dactyls