Bob the mantis is dying!

yeah thanks! Always good to get a reminder.

I cant figure her out....she is looking bad again. Her smasher (the good one) is in process of molting..cas see where it is seperating. She is in a funny position, almost curled up in a ball on her tail.

I dont know!

Inwall (Curt) is going to look at her again. She is VERY VERY weak and I am worried again

 

any update?

 

she is still fighting. She is still very soft and looks as if she is still molting...her shell is very white. She has not ate at all in over 2 1/2 weeks. I tried to put mysis in the tank yesterday adn she had nothing to do with it! Then I placed a piece of krill next to her and she did not touch it.

Today she remains in a ball...still alive but weak.

 

Dear Bob,

Thank you for being such a beautiful entertaining friend for so long. I have enjoyed reading and watching your progress for quite some time now, your parent loves you very much and has been very generous in sharing you with us.

I know a surprising amount about you Bob, considering we live on opposite sides of the planet and i am a human and you are a stomatopoda ;D I knew virtually nothing about mantis shrimp before i met you Bob. Now, thanks to you, I know quite allot about your awesome species. It still amazes me that you can see up to 12 color channels, including ultraviolet and infrared! You have the most sophisticated, complex eyes in the world! So I have no doubt that you can see that your parent loves you very much and there are allot of humans rooting for you now.

I really just want to say thank you Bob and ask you to make it through this molt... but baby, if your tired and you cant, than its ok to let go too. For a mantis shrimp, you've achieved quite allot in the human world. Did you realize its entirely possible that someone read about you, later found a mantis shrimp in their fish tank and decided not to kill it based on getting to know you? In fact I personally have requested my LFS not kill the next mantis he finds and to call me so I can house it. I am not sure if that means anything in the big scheme of things ecologically but karma wise, i kinda dig it. Your a super intelligent animal Bob, so you know what i am getting at here.

I hope that the next time I hear about you Bob, you have recovered completely and can continue to entertain and educate us humans. However, if its your time, your tired and it hurts, than as much as it pains my human heart I would prefer you let go. I want to scream at you to fight, to push and to go on but in light of all you've done already that would feel selfish of me.
Thanks for everything Bob. If i could hug you I probably wouldn't because you still might smash my face off but I am most definitely blowing you a kiss right now.

Love, Trouble xox

 

k+ the above.

 

OMG...this is AWESOME!

I went into my tank room that houses Bob and read this too her;D She stood up on her tail, tiltled her eyes and head attentively, and said she is trying to fight this as hard as she can. She is not sure how much longer she can hold on...but she appreciates all that are rooting for her! This makes her pain more bearable she told me.

She also promised that she will continue to fight this, so that she can continue to "educate" the fish lovers out there. She went on to tell me that if/when she makes it out of this molt she will allow me to take her picture again and post it as a thank you!

She also said she would never smash a human's face she prefers fingers!

Anyway...karma + and thanks again!

 

Ok, that was absolutely beautiful. It is simply amazing to this newbie, how attached we can become to these creatures that we invite into our lives.

I am sure that Bob appreciated the letter and your tender care.

 

Wow...Princess and I communicate sometimes...but it's normally along the lines of:

"Princess, what the heck are you doing?"
"Justin, what the heck are you doing?"

Like my signature says, I'd find watching my mantis more enjoyable if she didn't watch me back.

 

Well never thought I'll be talking to Bob the mantis shrimp ...
So... Bob, we all have bad times just hang in there.... the kids don't know where I'm coming from..
But " Bob " does and thats all that matters..

Good Luck, Larry

 

Asking4trouble, the "Dear Bob" letter is wonderful!