mantis lost smasher thingy... will it grow back?

[synack]

I had a mantis in a collander hanging in the tank until I had it sent to a nice home. Turns out, while I was at work today, it caught its smasher thingy in a slot and it somehow seperated one of its smasher things from its body while it must have been trying to free itself.

Will it regrow the missing smasher? or is it like this for life?

 

[Dan87]

I'm not an expert on these creatures, or do I have one of my own. But, I'm pretty sure they grow it back. Wait for Roy to post, he is the expert. this is just my 2 cents

 

[ADHybrid]

The smasher will grow back after several molts. It will be small at first but will eventually catch up in size with the other smasther. In the mean time, I would suggest feeding foods that are a little easier to eat since he is workin with only 1 clubber.

-Chris

 

[Gonodactylus]

Chris,

One correction. THere is no need to feed a stomatopod missing one raptorial appendage softer food. They are nearly as effective breaking open snails and crabs with one as with both appendages. It will take them a bit longer because they can't strike as frequently, but when feeding on shells they often use just one appendage at a time anyway. The reason that I don't recommend backing off on the hardness scale of prey is that an animal that strikes a lot has a better chance of not losing its raptorial appendage when it molts.

Assuming that this animal is an O. scyllarus, it will take three or four molts to get back the second maxilliped to full size, Depending on the size of the animal, this could take six months to a year.

Roy

 

[ADHybrid]

My bad. Synack, listen to Gonodactylus, he knows tons more than I will ever know about mantis shrimp.