Molting mantis!

Maybe it has to do with the sudden one-piece removal of your whole outer body...for mantis shrimp, they have to worry about:

1. Squeezing out of all the nooks and crannies such as out of their rapts, telsons etc.
2. Ecdysis (preparation for the molt) takes up valuable resources and energy
3. They have to prepare for around a week or two (depending on size) of fasting. I recall Dr. Caldwell saying it is a high energy-taking process.
4. Once they are done, they are all soft and are at risk of being eaten. Adding to this is the problem that they cannot use their rapts until their shells have hardened.
5. Other mantis shrimp. They are often stressed out with the worry that another mantis shrimp will come into their territory during this time.
6. Not sure why but they become a lot more susceptible to changes in water chemistry.

 

Molts are hard on all mantis, but peacocks are particullarly hard on.

I think molts are hard because there are so many things going on with it. First the shell has to soften, then they have to get water up under the shell to loosen it (Imagine shedding your entire body skin) Plus they are extremely vulnerable at this point...cant defend itself (too soft), cant eat, etc. Then if there is a piece of shell that they cant get off...have to keep working on it, more stress etc. Then the shell has to harden before he can do anything else. (I would think during this time there are a lot of chemical and electrolyte changes going on) So teh less stress we can provide the better

Have you given your mantis any snails? They need to crush stuff with their smashers to keep them up. I usually gave Bob a couple turbos a month. I would actually ahve to drop them into her den for her to grab them as she would not USUALLY eat them otherwise

 

I wasn't trying to be smart or anything....Just asking. Reason I asked is that shrimp and such (cleaners, peppermint) don't seem to have as hard a time. Just wondering what's different.

 

Ok so it's been around a week or so now. I haven't had the light on and had a towel over the tank. I peeked in and he seemed fine. Upright and just hiding back in his den. So i flipped on the light and after about 5 minutes went and looked and he is on his side. Whats going on?

 

any other news

 

no...definately did not think you were being smart! ;D

 

Still is struggling sadly. Turn the lights off again and see how it does. I had left Bobs lights off for close to 2 weeks this last time as she continued to molt that time.

I will warn you however, that is not a good sign. Bob did that on her second to last molt. She did pull through it and was fine. In fact I found out Bob was not a Bob when she shortly had an egg sac a month or so later. HOWEVER, right after she had her eggs she went into another molt and it was too much for her too soon. She did die after 2 weeks of molting (might have been longer)

Are you dosing anything in your tank? Some people will tell you to dose iodine in mantis tank and that is wrong. You should NOT dose iodine or iodide.

Again best thing to do is just leave it alone.

good luck

 

No I am not putting anything in the tank. Good news. I took off the towel and the mantis is being "mantis like". haha. He's poking his head out of his den and looking around, coming out when i get near the front of the tank. Just seems when i turn the light on he goes in and hides. So i'll be keeping that off for a few days. Other than that he's starting to look back to normal. Still not eating though.

 

Greeat News! Manliketugboat is OK! Turned on the light today and have been watching him. He's been scavenging around for food from what it looks like so i threw in some shrimp. Man he hopped on it like there was no tomorrow. haha. He came out gorgeous. His back half shell is now green and his tailfeathers went to some crazy color patterns. He looks great! I'll post pics in a bit.

 

cool glad every is ok and.........
pics, pics, pics, pics