Shipping mantis

[gregt]

I searched the forum and couldn't find any information on shipping concerns for these guys.

I ship plenty of fish and coral, so I don't need general information, but specifically what should I know about mantis? I would assume that the typical plastic bag is a bad idea? What do you use to put them in?

 

[dc]

I would think a bag would be fine, maybe inside one of those disposable plastic containers. So who's getting it???

 

[gregt]

Debi, you will get the one I've already caught, as you were first in line.

 

[dc]

Cool! overnight mine, I think that's the only way to go. Weather is great for shipping right now. Foam peanuts for insulation??

 

[Fcamdog]

I use the thicker plastic bags, put some newspaper around it and double bag it. I recommend using a styrafoam lined box, homemade cooler, as I recently lost a mantis due to weather. Packed as such they will do fine with 2nd day air.

 

[jsronce]

On the Mantis Shrimp Forum page, go to the bottom and slect messages from the last 100 days, listed by original poster. Look under "Gonodactylus". You'll find a thorough explanation of how to ship stomatopods written by Dr. Caldwell.

Jennifer

 

[jsronce]

Sorry, I had that wrong. You'd have to select posts for the last year, not 100 days. The original post was 9/26/01 (wow, this year went fast!).

Here's the link: http://reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38728

Jennifer

 

[dc]

Forgot to say thanks Greg!! So is there anything wrong with putting him in a 40 gallon tank? Aside from finding him? I have this tank that I use as recycle water for hatching brine. When I thought I was going to get a Kole Tang I cleaned it up for a quarentine. It's kind of lonely, with a couple baby Mollies in it. Do they only kill snails when they are hungry? What else do you feed them?

 

[Gonodactylus]

Jennifer,

Thanks for reminding me that I had posted something on shipping. I should add one thing. Now that cold weather is approaching (plus the always present problem of unheated cargo bays), cold is a serious problem for shipping stomatopods. Many Indo-Pacific stomatopods can't handle prolonged (> than a few hours) at temperatures below about 70 F. Caribbean species do a bit better and can tolerate temperature down to the mid 60's for a few hours, but anything lower is usually lethal. If you have to ship when there is serious risk of even insulated containers dropping into the 60's, I would suggest investing in some heatpacs that are used by commercial shippers. They cost only a dollar or so each and can provide heat for 24 hours. DO NOT use the pacs sold as handwarmers. They usually last only a few hours and get much too hot.

Roy

 

[dc]

Well my little guy came fabulous! Very alert and moving around. Here he is acclimating, of course my pics don't compare to Gregs.