is it normal

[leaffish75]

for a mantis to molt but not seal its self into a burrow? 1 week after i bought mine it began to molt. during this time it crawled all over the tank while trying to shed. It was neat to watch.

[Spudstr]

weird, my peacock did a handstand this morning right before he shot down under his rock :-P was funny to wach him do a handstand.

[amber2461]

Hey

A picture would have been worth a thousand words ...

[Gonodactylus]

The molt generally takes only a couple of minutes. When animals get stuck, it is drawn out and can take hours, often with fatal results.

The "handstand" behavior in many stomatopods including Odontodactylus and other burrowers is actually defication. The animal ejects its feces into the water column so that it will be carried away from the burrow.

Roy

[leaffish75]

dr. Roy - so i might need to move my rock work to find the mantis to see if its dead?

[Gonodactylus]

Sounds like it was in trouble.

Roy

[leaffish75]

I know where its at just havent seen it come out. I'll move the rock this evening and see if its still alive. If it is is there any thing i can do to save it? Last time i saw it the last bit of molt was coming off.

thanks alot