Help me not feel like an idiot

[Kharn]

I beg to differ...

I will say and will always say them as how they roll off my tongue, if someone is going to correct me for that...well...yeah.

"You say tomarto I say tomateo" ?

 

[Fartin'Gary]

I'm like...99.999999% sure he's a male. When he came in I checked his underside and I do believe I saw the boy-parts. As well, on Roy's site he has both a picture of a male and a female. The females body is green. The males is tan, and this one is defiantly not green in person.

Hard to tell from the pics but I don't see any male gonads behind the last set of legs. I am thinking female.

 

[Islandoftiki]

Hard to tell from the pics but I don't see any male gonads behind the last set of legs. I am thinking female.

I can see them. They're blurry, but in that last picture they're viewable between the last two pereiopods (because of the angle); they're actually in front of the pleopods. Or at least that's what I think I'm seeing, two agled sticks \ /

 

[StephLionfish]

Yep, I see them, too. I agree with male.

 

[Fretfreak13]

We are talking about these do-dads, right?

 

[Islandoftiki]

We are talking about these do-dads, right?

Those are they.

+1 for the technical terminology.

 

[Fretfreak13]

lol

 

[Fretfreak13]

In case anyone was wondering, he's off to join Dr. Roy's collection. =)

I feel really good knowing that such a rare animal will be going to such a good home.

 

[Fartin'Gary]

Awesome I was hoping Roy would get him.

 

[Fretfreak13]

Absolutely! Plus, this little fella really has my heart. Working at a LFS you see all kinds of crap, and I'm glad he's not going to some punk who's just going to harass him to see what he could kill.

This one in particular is pretty docile. He'll happily take mysis and krill from skewers, but doesn't really want much to do with emerald crabs or astrea snails. When I give them to him he'll take them, whack them once for good measure, then toss them out of his home and they'll just stroll away like nothing happened. haha

 

[areucrazy]

What a great thread!! I havent been by in awhile and this was so nice to read! What an awesome little mantis and its even better that you found an excellent home for him with Dr. Roy. Googly (my GT) says HI!! lol...

 

[Sh0velman]

Working at a LFS you see all kinds of crap

That statement is depressingly true.

 

[Gonodactylus]

O japonicus burrow construction

O japonicus burrow construction

The small male O. japonicus is settling in. I though you might like to see what he has accomplished in the past week. He started out living under a flat piece of rubble about the size of a deck of cards. He has now collected pieces of coral rubble and shell from all over the aquarium, about a liter total, and built a burrow about six inches long. The mound covering it is about 3 inches deep. He shows not signs of letting up from dawn to dusk.

Roy

 

[usatennisfan]

I don't think this was ever mentioned but how big is it?

 

[Gonodactylus]

It is a juvenile male about 7 cm total length.

Roy

 

[nmotz]

Question for Dr. Roy

Question for Dr. Roy

Dr. Roy, you've mentioned the "small flat piece of rubble for a burrow set up" before. So do you just prop the piece of LR on something or just lay it down flat on the substrate and let him burrow underneath it? I'm going to do a set up like this with my next mantis, hopefully one of the smaller Odontodactylids.

 

[Gonodactylus]

I lay it flat on a bed of a couple of inches of gravel/shell/rubble. I then scope out a bit of substrate to create a small cave. The stomatopod will usually start excavating there.

Roy