R.I.P. Butch

[Q-ball]

Well, looks like the dreaded molt came & never passed this past time for Butch He'd been doing well too, eating well, coming out to visit, etc... It looked like he got about halfway through the molt just fine, in fact I found the back half of his molt intact laying outside his cave. Apparently he just couldn't shrug out of the front have I guess. There wasn't much left at all, a hermit crab decided to take advantage of the situation. I'm hopeful that the hermit didn't swoop in until Butch had passed, but I'm not 100% sure so the hermit will be leaving the tank so the next mantis will be by himself. Any thoughts on this trouble molting stuff? Should we be dosing iodine maybe? Is there something I can add to his food? He basically got dried krill soaked in Zoe 3 times a week or so, sometimes getting a piece of shrimp or other meat from my puffer & trigger tank. thoughts?

Q!!!

 

[moviegeek]

Q-ball,

Sorry to hear about that. It sucks to see any animal die, but mantis are especially intelligent and cool, making it all the more frustrating.

This seems to be a reoccuring problem for anyone who keeps mantis long-term. Personally, I'm thinking that this summer is going to be a time for me to do some reading about stomatopod biology in the scientific journals. I'm going to do what I can to track down the articles listed at the Lurker's site.

Although mantis are tough little critters 99% of the time, during the molting process they seem very vulnerable. Maybe this is especially true with the larger species.

ScottL is the only mantis hobbyist who immediately comes to mind who has kept individual mantis longer than 1 year. He has made some good points about his mantis "hyper diet" (Selconized Krill, shrimp, Formula One, Prime Reef). This diet has reversed the color fading that ScottL witnessed over time.

I'm still not quite clear about exactly how iodine helps crustaceons, but I know anything that molts is supposed to need iodine. I'm not sure if its necessary to dose a supplement, or if the iodine in food is enough. My first mantis died during a molt even though I was using water from my reef for water changes.

BTW, the LFS here has one 5" O. scyllarus Peacock left. The owner is packing one up and shipping it to a hobbyist in New York. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[Q-ball]

Hiya MG. Yup, molts seem to be really tough on these fella's. I definately plan on keeping another, Pegasis has caught one in his tank again down in Baltimore, so I'm making the trip down there Sunday to pick it up. Thanks for the offer of the peacock, if I wasn't already committed I'd take that peacock as they're beautiful. I think this time I'm going to try very low doses of Kent Iodine solutions to see if that might help. I'm also going to try to vary the diet more as you stated. Thanks again,

Q!!!

 

[JG]

Say it aint so Q!

 

[Q-ball]

Yaman, I was hoping that he was just hiding from me for a while, but the other day I took all the rock out of the tank and he's just gone for sure. It really upset us, he was a fixture in the family just like our fish. This whole molting thing is buggin me, there's gotta be a way to help insure they get through it successfully more often. I wonder if molting is as much a danger in the wild for them? If it isn't, I'd think that it's some sort of deficiency either in their water or diet (probably diet). One thing for sure, I'm taking the hermit outta there so he can't take advantage of the mantis when it is molting. I'm not sure he did, but I can't rule it out either. That's a shame too, cuz it was fun watching the mantis try to figure out how to eat that hermit

Q!!!

 

[sculpin]

Just out of curiosity, is it normal for them to seal their burrow up for a week or so during a molt? I've kept a little 4" smasher for 10 months now, and every so often it seals the doors under the fungia skeleton it uses for a burrow and doesn't come out for a week. I assume this is molt time for it.

Also, do mantis shrimp have color changes during mating seasons? I noticed that mine had little pink balls on its smashers about 2 months ago which disappeared shortly thereafter.

Mike

 

[ISFRAEL]

how often are mantis supposed to molt?
and what is selcon?

 

[Q-ball]

Hiyas...for the mantis I had, it seemed perfectly normal for him to close up shop for 4-6 days during a molt, yes. In fact, most nights he closed up the 2 doors into his cave about 15-30 minutes BEFORE lights out. Not sure how often they're supposed to molt, I think mine averaged about once every 4-5 weeks. Selcon is a vitamin supplement (I think it's hufa vitamins? Not sure, I'm at work right now). I prefer Zoe vitamin supplement mainly cuz it doesn't seem to go bad, and Selcon does after a few months and I just don't use it up fast enough. The cats just never acquired a taste for it for some reason

Q!!!

 

[orkspace]

My condolences -- I've lost two very cool peacock mantises myself during molts. Dr. Caldwell told me in an e-mail that O. Scyllarus is really not a very hardy species -- he suggested G. smithii and Neogonodactylus wennerae as species that do very well in an aquarium. Neogonodactylus wennerae is the species that caused the ruckus at the Monterey Bay Aquarium a couple of months ago.

 

[ISFRAEL]

my mantis has stopped accepting food for the last 4 days or so and will just push it out of his hole if i try to feed him.
he sometimes acts like he is sick (dazed or not paying attention) but then 30 min later he is acting normal?

he wont strike if i put my feeding stick near his tunnel entrance like normal either but just backs away real quick into his tunnels?

i think he might be molting?
has anyones mantis done this before a molt?