Shoreliner11 said:
On the subject...what do you guys think about going to a local beach (a good distance from population and farely pristine) and picking up some various shore crabs. If I can be sure they are not high in any contaminants and only do this every once in a while, can anyone see this as being a problem to feed a mantis? If any of you who keep stomatopods live near a farely pristine beach would you think to do the same?
Aaron
Tim's response was "Hells yaeh" and then he stared at me for a long time and seemed to be tapping his feet...
While I think this would be a great treat, occassionally, there's no way I'm going to just stroll out to the beach and get him some. I mean, the closest beach from here is Lake Michgan, and that's a 3-hour drive...
So long as the crabs look healthy, came from a 'clean' beach and don't have any obvious parasites I think I would do this fairly often were it possible.
Originally posted by Hutton
hey man,
just thought i would tell you how much i like Tim. he is the coolest mantis i have seen. i have a question. does Tim plug his hole up with sand and shells? my mantis has been doing this and it realy annoys me when cant see him.
Hey there yourself Hutton. I think you're on to something. Tim is constantly finding the most remote locations he can to create his burrow and then cover it up (which is a difficult feat in itself within a space twice as big as a shoebox). It's like Halloween all year round with Tim hiding and then just waiting to popup during maintenance. I too think sometimes he does this only for my amusement or annoyance (it is really humorous to watch him try to make a too small shell cover a too big whole - he'll try every possible angle before throwing in the towel).
In all seriousness though, most stomopods I've read about or observed plug their burrows at night. While they are master predators when awake, I bet they'd fall pretty easily when surprised. They might even lose an eye... or something. Tim sed to have a very tight schedule of waking and sleeping, now-a-days he's a little more flexible.
When he does bed down for the night though, he seals off the top entrance with rubble and dirty plates.
Enjoy,
