Adult G. smithii molt every three or four months. They usually close up a few days prior to molting and remain in the cavity for up to a week after the molt. In fact, they will generally stay hidden for longer than that. It may be two or three weeks after a molt until they resume full activity away from the cavity.
They cannot strike for a couple of days prior to the molt and a few days following it. If you heard it striking, it probably molted more than a week ago and will probably start to forage in a week or two.
One word of caution, however. Moving a tank by draining it and moving around the substrate can greatly degrade water quality. You expose and resuspend lots of organic material that may cause the ammonia levels to spike. When I have to move an animall and tear down the tank, I place it in a container of the original tank water (or new clean water) and hold it for a few days until the restored tank has stabilized. An adult G. smithii can be kept in as little as a liter of water, changed only every other day. If the animal is going to be out of the tank for a week or so, don't feed it. If longer, feed it small amounts every three or four days and remove the uneaten food and change the water after four or five hours.
Roy
Roy
