Home???

[jchough79]

OK I'm making my mantis a 25L for his new home. I had planned to glue rock around a piece of PVC so you could not see the pipe. I have read a few posts saying how the mantis will make there homes and move the rocks around. Is the PVC idea bad? Should I just get small pieces of rock and let the mantis build the cave himself? Or Could I do a trial and error process and set the PVC on one side and just toss some ruble on the other and let the mantis decide?

 

[Hwarang]

Hi! yes they are excavators indeed. I would not glue the rock down. I would place it around the pipe and if the mantis wants to rearrange it, then let it do so

 

[tirtguyll]

would it work if you glues small pieces of rock to themselfs and not used pvc? (just making a rock tube) it'll be eaiser for it to place rock inside and chip it out as it grows. just a thought, say what you think.

 

[H2OLUVSME]

i set up a mantis tank recently. i too batted the idea of pvc around in my head. i think there is no pvc in the ocean and they do fine at finding/buildong shelter. i think he'll stack the rock to his liking and it'll be more natural if you just toss the rubble in there and let it go to work. i stacked some a little, so when i introduce him into the tank there will be shelter. but, i wouldnt secure anything to anything else, so he can make his own home.

LT

 

[tirtguyll]

what size rubble did you use?

 

[H2OLUVSME]

ive got some shell pieces, a few rubble pieces that are about the size of a quarter (but about 1/2" thick) , and a few that are the size of a golf ball, and three pieces that are the size of a tennis ball. i went by an LFS today that has some good looking rock. ill add four more pieces today. one was about 6#'s and two are about the size of tennis balls. i also have some small branch pieces in there. i have a bag of astrea snails that i may add to the mix. they are small and light weight but will give him some good structure. hope this helps.

LT