Introducing Lobo, the swedish O. Scyllarus

[Vir.se]

Hey!

I've been keeping my O. Scyllarus for about 5 months now, so I thought I'd introduce him to you guys.

Lobo's living in a PVC tube about 30cm(~1 foot) long in a 220liters(~55gallons) aquarium. It's an old freshwater fish aquarium I converted.

I'd estimate him to be about 16cm long and I have no idea how old he is since he was adult when I got him. What's funny about him is that his behavior seems to differ from other O. Scyllarus I've read about.

He didn't close his cave when molting for example. Prior to the molt he developed the shell rot so I was afraid he'd die on me. One day when I got home from work he had lost color, looking really "purple-ish" and he was laying on his side, so I though he was about to die. But the next day he looked alot better so I guess I'd just caught him right after the molt itself. Got pictures of the disease if anyone wants. I believe the shell rot developed because it must have gone about 6 months between his last molts. I have good water conditions and the lightning is really weak.

Then there's the feeing part. I've read that its hard to feed different kinds of food. Lobo however takes turbos, frozen shrimps and clams without hesitating Since his shell rot I've been feeding him a lot more, about 6 times a week(as long as he eats up). And I hand-feed most of the time too.

Anyway. Here's some pictures.

 

[hikarishadow]

Those are beautiful pictures! I'm glad he's recovered from the shell-rot. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Koshmar]

Welcome! Thanks for sharing your peacock shots. Its pretty normal for a peacock to not seal its burrow during a molt and they are not picky eaters by any means.

I hand-feed most of the time too.

You might want to stop doing that. I know its fun and you feel really close to the animal because I use to hand feed my N. wennerae but its not advisible. The danger comes from infection rather than the actual strike. I use a turkey baster myself, which is terrific for allocating proper food amounts. You have to be careful when doing a gravel vac though as I've recently discovered because all of my mantids equate the baster with food. While I was vaccuming the sand, my G. chiragra shot out and grabbed onto the suction end! He found out there was no food and flew away back to his home. Other people use skewer sticks/chop sticks, some use those aquarium tongs, so you have a number of options. Just a friendly warning.

 

[Vir.se]

Those are beautiful pictures! I'm glad he's recovered from the shell-rot. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

Welcome! Thanks for sharing your peacock shots. Its pretty normal for a peacock to not seal its burrow during a molt and they are not picky eaters by any means.

You might want to stop doing that. I know its fun and you feel really close to the animal because I use to hand feed my N. wennerae but its not advisible. The danger comes from infection rather than the actual strike. I use a turkey baster myself, which is terrific for allocating proper food amounts. You have to be careful when doing a gravel vac though as I've recently discovered because all of my mantids equate the baster with food. While I was vaccuming the sand, my G. chiragra shot out and grabbed onto the suction end! He found out there was no food and flew away back to his home. Other people use skewer sticks/chop sticks, some use those aquarium tongs, so you have a number of options. Just a friendly warning.

Well I see your point but the thing is, I don't reach down and feed him in front of his burrow, in doing so he could feel threatened and attack, which is obvious. I simply dip the food an inch under the surface and he swims up and grabs it. But even doing it like this is risky, I know. So I wouldnt recommend anyone else doing it but I'm still going to. Thanks for the warning though.

 

[Thurge]

That is a very beautiful mantis you have.
If you want to hand feed a Peacock, knowing the risks, more power too you. I don't think I could bring myself to do that; I used to hand feed my G.chiagra until I had an unfortunate experience with another of my mantis and that pretty well killed it for me.