How to put a mantis to sleep

[Gonodactylus]

Occasionally people ask me how we catch stomatopods in the field or work with them in the lab without being stabbed. The quick answer is that we do suffer at their dactyls even though we use nets and heavy gloves. However, we have also found that you can anesthetize them for short periods of time and this will at least slow them down a bit.

After trying all the usual anesthetics used for fish and invertebrates (MS222, Quinaldine, etc.), we found that most are deadly to stomatoods. However, we have found one that works - Eugenol. This is the active ingredient in clove oil which you can buy at your local drugstore (used for toothache). It has to be specially prepared for use with aquatic animals, but it is fairly effective. We use a couple of drops in 5 ml of 95% ETOH added to one lliter of saltwater. Place the animal in this solution until the gills almost stop beating (any longer is fatal) and quickly rinse and put it in clean seawater. It will stay out for a few minutes. For use in the field, we use a stronger concentration and squirt the solution from a squeeze bottle into a cavity. Some (and I stress some) species will leave their cavities and are usually disoriented enough to allow capture.

I certainly would not recommend this for getting animals out of cavities in aquaria, but if you have to handle stomatopods, this works.

Roy

 

[Isaari]

So I take it flipping it upside down and rubbing its belly is ineffective?

 

[wetworx101]

I was trying to rig one of those wire-bendy grabber claw thingy's. You know, the ones you have a thumb button on the handle and the shaft is long and flexy to fit in pipes and stuff, with three little fingers that pop out the end of the flexy shafts end when you press the button, yet can grab small objects when you let go.

I was going to take one of these and put a small hook with food on the end so the mantis will come out to eat, then when he comes out, let the claw go...swiftly the little metal fingers would grab onto it's face and body...then just drag it out.

 

[RogueCorps]

Very interesting Roy. I hope I never have the need to do this though. When I needed to move my O.S. to a larger tank I put a plastic critter keeper in the tank and coaxed her into it with a net, then shut the lid. This was much less stressful than picking her up in a net.

Thanks for the info!

-Rogue

 

[brekurboy1]

I was trying to rig one of those wire-bendy grabber claw thingy's. You know, the ones you have a thumb button on the handle and the shaft is long and flexy to fit in pipes and stuff, with three little fingers that pop out the end of the flexy shafts end when you press the button, yet can grab small objects when you let go.

I was going to take one of these and put a small hook with food on the end so the mantis will come out to eat, then when he comes out, let the claw go...swiftly the little metal fingers would grab onto it's face and body...then just drag it out.

Plan well, I bet if the mantis gets away he'll be wise the next time you try. :bum:

 

[wetworx101]

hey, when the critter gets smart enough to outsmart me...it's time to get out the pistol and take aim before it advances itself to doing my taxes for me.

 

[inwall75]

Great info!!! Thank you for stopping in while on your research trip.

 

[njmar1]

I knew that eugenol stuff would come useful someday- don't use it anymore in the practice because it interferes with polymerization of composites (tooth colored fillings)-lol!

 

[Drew_P]

Great info as always! glad you could share it with us.