The Continuing Adventures of Tim (Supermantis)

[DensityMan]

Had to put the kibosh on a few of Tim's Halloween costumes this year.

Tim as an Angel


Tim as the emotion "Anger"


Of course all I really had to do was tell him to stop messing around with his visual range because he wasn't going to be able to pull off any of these ideas in the visible spectrum...

He was able to keep up his holiday spirit regardless...



Happy Halloween all!

[sandlot13]

amazing!!!! i mean, honestly, i thought my firefighter costume couldnt be beat with my roommate in a close second with his bumblebee costume, but Tim jsut blew us out of the water! well done tim, well done.

[mikehulen]

Originally posted by DensityMan
If you haven't already gotten rid of the big purple beastie, I think Tim's ready to take a shot at it. After his most recent molt he has grown disinterested with standard snail meals and kills them all in one frenzied "battle." I think it's more because he's bored than hungry...

So I would very much like to introduce him to Tim.

Timing is good here. I need to tear down the fuge to make a baffle repair and I have no where to keep the beast in the interim. I think he would provide several minutes of quality companionship/entertainment for Tim :-)

How best to package this guy for transport and what is a recommendation for shipping method? I've never tried to ship live critters before.

We can work out the details in private messages if you like.

[DensityMan]

You've got PM...

[mikehulen]

He'll be on his way shortly....probably Tuesday. Will post when he gets sent

[maxxII]

Game On!

Nick

[mikehulen]

Was unable to get package out this week. Will do so on Monday.

Please express my sincerest apologies to Tim for my tardiness in this matter.

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by mikehulen
Please express my sincerest apologies to Tim for my tardiness in this matter.

Do I detect some fear in this apology, or maybe the desire to stay high on the "Tim probably won't eat" list? Don't worry Mike, Tim is in Indiana, we can taunt him from Houston all we want

B.

[mikehulen]

Originally posted by CirolanidHunter
Do I detect some fear in this apology, or maybe the desire to stay high on the "Tim probably won't eat" list? Don't worry Mike, Tim is in Indiana, we can taunt him from Houston all we want

B.

Yes, but we are talking about the Super Mantis Tim and he has quite the reputation. So much so that when I mentioned to Stony that he would be joining Tim for Thanksgiving Dinner, he promptly molted and has gone into hiding behind a rock in the fuge. Must have really rattled him too because he was very cautious in coming out to catch and eat the frozen shrimp I therw in there last night. Every time it floated near him he retreated. He's turned into a big baby at the mere mention of Tim's name.

[sandlot13]

hehehe, soon though, his evasive maneuvers will no longer be suffiecent. I say, let Tim eat!!

[Hutton]

i was telling my brother about tim and my mantis over heard... he has built a wall ove shells around his home and looks out onces in a while to see if the force of doom is aprouching. tim, you are the coolest mantis i have seen. you are like the son i have always wanted.

[mikehulen]

Dear Tim,

This is to inform you that your Thanksgiving Dinner guest, Stony, has begun his trip to your home (or will as soon as my wife goes to post office this morning). He should be arriving at your home by Friday. Please excuse his shyness at first; he molted within the past week and is somewhat sensitive about his newfound growth in size and weight. I'm sure this will pass as he gets used to his new shell.

His last words to me as I triple-bagged him and boxed him up (molting caused him to outgrow the thermos I purchased to ship him in) were, "I hope Tim likes me!". Well he was either saying that or "Oh God no! Tim is going to eat me!"

Stone crab dialect can be a little tough to understand at times...

[DensityMan]

This is very good news. Tim anticipated this and cleaned his entired tank last night (and by that I mean I cleaned the entire tank because he patently refused to do anything and even got a bit threatening). I'll set up a temporary home for Stony tonight in the main tank, as I will be out in the woods until Sunday and want to make sure I'm there for the "introductions."

Also managed to catch Tim checking out the circuitry on the bottom of a harddrive while I was doing some maintenance. I'm not certain what he plans to do with the info, but it does make me slightly nervous...

Thanks for the update!

[Hutton]

10 bucks says tim wins! were do you get the crabs? will any lfs give away hitch hicker crabs?

[StrongHandsMcGee]

Originally posted by Hutton
10 bucks says tim wins! were do you get the crabs? will any lfs give away hitch hicker crabs?

Sometimes lfs will give away bad crabs they find, other times they try to milk you for it. One guy tried to get me to pay 5 bucks for a gorilla crab. That's right, a gorilla crab, and a teeny one to boot.

[Shoreliner11]

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? There is a professor at my uni that is a crab specialist and I might just go and have a little conversation regarding local toxicities and heavy metal concentrations in shore crabs. Even though the water is around 50 degrees f this time of year, they should be ok for a while because they can survive in tidepools which can get warmer than our tanks for a given period of time. Anyways, what do you think? If any of you who keep stomatopods live near a farely pristine beach would you think to do the same?
Aaron

[DensityMan]

Originally posted by Shoreliner11
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,

[DensityMan]

ps- Tim wanted to thank you all for your confidence in him. And then wanted me to inform all of you to send a percentage of your winnings to him in the form of crustaceans...

Some LFS will give away or sell for cheap unwanted hitchhikers, others will sell them as reef-friendly and exotic creatures. Build a relationship with a store or employee who knows their stuff and the occassional treat can be had.

[mikehulen]

DM,

I'm almost afraid to ask, but did Stony arrive safely?

It was not until after he was on his way that I remembered that Friday was Veteran's Day and that there may be an issue with US mail service.

[DensityMan]

We shall see... I have yet to receive him... *cringe*

[BrianPlankis]

I lost my flush valve kit for my RO/DI unit this weekend. I have no idea how it happened...one minute it was there, the next it was gone. The only plausible explanation is that Tim heard that I was saying we could safely taunt him from Texas and he somehow arranged for the flush kit to disappear

Brian

[DensityMan]

Originally posted by mikehulen
DM,

I'm almost afraid to ask, but did Stony arrive safely?

It was not until after he was on his way that I remembered that Friday was Veteran's Day and that there may be an issue with US mail service.

Alas, not even the packaging survived... He was a mighty crab indeed though (by all appearances). It would've been a grand battle.

Originally posted by CirolanidHunter
I lost my flush valve kit for my RO/DI unit this weekend. I have no idea how it happened...one minute it was there, the next it was gone. The only plausible explanation is that Tim heard that I was saying we could safely taunt him from Texas and he somehow arranged for the flush kit to disappear

Brian

He was looking awfully pleased with himself yesterday evening...

[mikehulen]

Originally posted by DensityMan
Alas, not even the packaging survived... He was a mighty crab indeed though (by all appearances). It would've been a grand battle.

Crud. Well that bites.

A few moments of silence for Stony. He will be missed.

[sandlot13]

dang! i wanted to see this epic battle that would have surely been one to go down in the vast and impressive History of Tim. shucks..... anyone else have a challenger for Tim?

[Opcn]

I'd say another mantis, but I wouldn't want to waste one of those