Mantis Molting

[vapester]

.....I've had my Mantis for like 6 months now and was wondering about their molting habits. I've heard they may molt as little as say twice a year especially after they become adults. I think mine may have molted as I noticed awhile back he had what looked like an injury sustained from another Mantis. Like a small smash mark or indention on his rear. It appears to have healed now, but you can sorta see a small scar where it was. I almost tend to think he accidently hit himself, because I didn't see it for a long time.
Anyhow, my Mantis lives in a nice sized cave with several exits, but the substrate in the tank is the live sand type. I was wondering the importance of a burrow to a Mantis as compared to a cave. And also the effects of the absence of a clay or mud like material to construct a more natural burrow. I saw a small exhibit at Cabrillo Aquarium last weekend on the burrow of a Californiensis (sp?) species. I mean it wouldn't be practical to put 10 inches of mud and clay in a tank. But my question is, is a Mantis less likely to molt when there is an absence of a natural-like burrow. And also does good/weak lighting affect how often he molts and does the lighting affect his color-changes w/ molts in captivity in shallow water depth?

[djborrmann]

I too am interested in the molting habits. Not how often as much as, what does it look like. I have a 6 inch peacock. I thought he was doing very well. I would feed him daily, and he would happily go and grab it. He lives with a few other tankmates (gobies, turbos, hermits) in a 30 gal tank with a lives rock cave where he lives and a three inch sugar fine substrate. This morning, with just the actinics on, he is pile driving the sand around (not near his home...on the other side of the tank) with his face! Is this normal? Is this molting? Is this bad? He doesn't seem to be building much. Just sticks his head down and goes around. Straight...circles...whatever.

Curious...

Jason Borrmann

[Gonodactylus]

Jason,

Digging and exploration a few days before the molt is typical. What your O.s. is doing sounds a bit unusual, but it may be looking for a spot to start digging. The animal will stop eating a day or two before the molt. If all goes well the molt will be very rapid - less than a minute. The cuticle splits on the dorsal mid-line thorax (on the back above the walking legs), the animal jack-knifes, pumps it self up using hydrostatic pressure (it has to use a hydrostatic skeleton to move since the shell is not sufficiently stiff to allow it to effectively use its muscles) to further split the cutcles and pulls out of the old molt skin. The carapace comes off and the last parts to free themselves are the head and raptorial appendages. If there is going to be trouble, this is when it typical occurs.

Often within hours after the molt, the animal will take part or all of the molt skin away from the burrow and bury it. This may be dug up again and eaten in a few days, but I would recommend removing it if you see it since it is a source of infection and rot.

Large O.s. will take soft food (pieces of shrimp) a day or two after molting, but it may take a week or more for them to start smashing snails.

Roy

[DensityMan]

Raising a dead post...

Haven't heard or seen my mantis in 4 days now. This past Saturday he closed up his rock-way entrance (which he does periodically anyway), but even after closing that he normally can be seen venturing around the other sand-level entrances. He is a rather 'personable' little guy, in that lightly rapping on the glass will more often than not get him to investigate and at least come out to say 'hello.

To complicate matters a bit, I did add a 'rescued' fish that I thought may have been a type of flasher wrasse, but instead turns out to be Belonepterygion fasciolatum ("Red banded hi-fin dottyback")... Can a mantis shrimp take care of itself post-molt with a potential shrimp-eater in the tank?