I got my 1st mantis!

C

crazyaggie05

Member
Well here it is. It is about 2" long, and seems nice and healthy. I am not quite sure what it is. O ordered it from marine depot live as a "green mantis". Well duh. It is light green with dark lines on it's body segments. I can't really tell waht it has going on for a meral spot... there is a TINY purple spot, but it looks too small to be a meral spot. It has bright reddish markings on its teslon and small fine white dots near its head. It has a horn and oblong eyes. Here are some bad pictures. Perhaps someone else has some insight.

Oh yeah and its raptorial appendages look whitish from this angle...

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Cool that is what I was thinking.... it definately has white meral spots. Do you have any advice for this species? She has started to move about and is not as shy as when I fisrt inrtoduced her an hour ago. She is in my 8 gallon BioCube, this should be a suitable home right?
 
8 gal. is a bit small, but if the tank is stable and well run in, it should be alright. G. chiragra are fairly reclusive and don't come out that much except when conditioned to expect food. They also take a long time to complete a molt, so don't be surprised if she closes up for a couple of weeks at a time. I have several G. c that have been in the lab for three years, so the chances are good that you will have her for quite some time. They need to break live food, so try to make sure that she has a snail or hermit once or twice a week along with other food.

Roy
 
Shes got plenty of food right now living in the tank with her. She went after a small nassarius already, but was just playing with it, she didn't actually eat it. Right now there is sand flying around everywhere as she is making a home in the back corner of the tank which happens to be right next to where I sit at my computer. She is defiantely moving about the tank and will come up to the glass to check things out. I hope she isn't that reclusive as I was hoping for something a little more active. She is really good looking though and I think I will enjoy taking care of her.
 
Wow I just watched her take down a very small nassarius! These are some really cool creatures! She went around to every hermit and snail, toyed with them, decided that she felt like nassarius tonight, and then went to work. It took her longer to crack the shell than I thought it would take, but she evertually got it.
 
I am finding that G. chiagra are a little more interactive than they appear. Mine (Hairy) is in a 15 gallon tank with a Large PVC burrow (its 16" long with a 9" hall that T's off in the middle). Hairy will chill in the front door of the T, and using reflections off of the glass he will watch everything going on in the Kitchen. Approach the tank from the kitchen and you can just see his head poking out of the burrow, but approach the front of the tank and he retreats a couple inches into his burrow.
 
Dr. Roy, I gotta few quick questions. I have not seen my chiragra since I last Friday. I went outta town for the weekend and her burrow was closed up when I got back Sunday. I thought she was molting, however, I noticed that the "front door" of her burrow has been changing daily when I get back from work, and there are empty snail shells showing up so I know she is getting out and eating. I have also heard a few clicks a few days ago. Do they come out after they molt, or is the weeklong period they close up before the molt? What might she be doing? Is she just rediculously shy and knows to come out in the mornings when I am gone?
 
before mine died I noticed it was only active during the mornings. It would not surprise me if yours decided to close its burrow during the day after it was done eating

Dan
 
Well, it is confirmed. I don't have to show up for work until a little later today, so what did I see after the lights came on? My chiragra opening up her burrow. She is defintealy not molting, and definately boring lol. Dr. Roy you need another female chiragra?
 
:) Toss in a crab and see how boring it is then. Mine, Hairy, will come CHARGING out if his burrow and just beat the ever living snot out of the crab (immagine your snake fearing mother going to town on one in the yard with the shovle). Hairy will actually will start to open his burrow at like 7 - 8 in the morning and the light doesn't come on until at least 9 I think (its been a long while since I set his timer). Then in the evening he has closed up shop by 8ish and the light is on for another hour. Also if I restock his snail population he will go grab them and hord the snails in his burrow for a week or two.
 
luscien, I have three tanks right now.
Hairy the G. chiagra male
Squirtle a G. grapherus
and Menerva the P. ciliata

If I put a timer on the fuge lights, I could put two more in the reef sump.
 
Hey, I know this sounds rediculous, but I ended up finding a Smithii and he/she is on its way. I caught my CHiragra this morning using a bottle trap and she is currently in a large peice of tubberware with holes in it in my tank. I put my largest peice of LR in there and she has already hollowe dout a burrow lol. I have a few buyers lined up already.

I know ya'll are thinking hey give it a chance, but a smithii or wennerae was what I really wanted and it is what I thought I was getting from marine depot live. THe problem with my Chir. is that I leave for work early in the morning most days and then come back late in the evening. As I found out, she gets up early, eats and closes up. She also scurries into her den any time I come in. THis tank is my only release from pilot training, so I hate coming home to stare at a pile of rocks.
 
Oh yeah, and don't forget when I say boring, I mean that in relative terms. A boring mantis is cooler than just about anything else you can put in a SW tank. I did enjoy watching her hunt and build her burrow for the shart amount of time I did. I watching her radar-like eyes poking out of her burrow the 2 or 3 times I did was cool too.
 
I know what your saying. Before mine died I was looking for someone to take it so I could make room. I finally got the tank cleared, just not theway I wanted.

Dan
 
Hehe I started off with just a G. Tern and then I found 2 smithiis plus a ciliata, now I have a 10g divided a 3g pico and a 2.5g. IMO plenty of LR, corals and sand and you can keep them in fairly small tanks. Mine are juvis though.
 
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