Peacock and other mantis shrimp burrows

[Gonodactylus]

I've been experimenting with various types of pvc "burrows" for burrowing stomatopods. One product that almost perfectly emulates an O. scyllarus burrow is Schedule 40 Rigid NonMetalilic PVC conduit elbows. It comes in 22.5, 45 and 90 degree elbows in diameters from .5 to 6 inches
(ID). The manufacturer of the elbows I have tried is "Carlon".

For a 5 inch O. scyllarus, the 90 degree, 2 inch diameter elbow is great. I cut the ends so that they will be flush with surface (approximately a 45 degree cut). It takes a 6 inch gravel or sand bed to bury the conduit and the entrances are about 18 inches appart. This is very similar to a burrow in the wild.

Roy

 

[Giga]

sounds good-do you have pictures? This is what i'm doing too!

 

[cobaltplasma]

Dr. Caldwell, I was wondering in regards to using PVC pipes as mantis burrows, are there any precautions you have to take before putting one in, particularly in regards to, say, curing the pipe with the tank or something like that? I was considering getting my mantis some pvc pipe for her burrow, but I received her on such short notice I wasn't sure how it would be, if it'd be safe to just put in some PVC from Home Depot or something and run with that.

Any suggestions/advice in that regard?

 

[Gonodactylus]

While there are different grades of pvc and some are considered less toxic than others, I have never had trouble with using white, grey or black. However, you do have to worry about contamination from oils and other materials that might get on the pipe in the hardware store or lumber yard. I've seen various oils and grease on or in pipe as well as pesticides and other miscellaneous goo! I also worry about some of the ink used to mark the pipe. As a precaution, I usually scrap or sand off markings and soak the pipe in really hot water for a day or two. Do not use soap or other solvents. Quite frankly, if it looks like I wouldn't want to eat off of it, I don't use it in a small closed system.

Roy