Mantis Molt

How long should a typicaly molt take? My Mantis has been hiding a lot lately, very hard to get her to even take food. I was just wondering how long I should expect this or if I should be concerned that something else is wrong? She took tons of little rocks and filled in her rock and left only one entrance.

Thanks

 

it can take a week or so. When they go into their den and board it up, it is best to turn the lights off and just leave them be...dont try to feed or anything. There is a couple phases of the molt...the first part is the growth of the new skin. A lot of times they will go in and den more at that point but will still take food. The next part is when they are shedding their old exoskeleton. This is very stressful during this point. Bob molted different areas...would do his swimmettes, then tail, and then a couple days later the body shell. It is crucial that you dont mess with them during this phase...dont feed etc. Turn lights off etc. This is the phase where they tend to die. Once they shed they need to get their new exoskeleton to harden up and will remain in their den.

Do not remove their exoskeloton either. They will eat that and get nutrients stuff from that. Also, becareful during molting and phase immediately before and immedialty after they are very mean. I always could tell when Bob was PMS....premolting shell!

What type of mantis do you have? What do you feed him? Does he get krill and snails? Also DO NOT, DO NOT supplement iodine! EVER. They will get their iodine from their food.

I will say molts get harder on the mantis as they age. I had a very large peacock (thought was male but was female...she had a brood of eggs at the end and then molted........this caused her to die). Each molt did seem to take a little longer and was a little harder on her, But just hang in there!

 

Thank you for the reply K++. He has been in his den for about a week now and I can see through a couple holes in the rock that her color has turned from a dark green to a greyish color (hopefully old exo coming off). She still takes food if I offer in her den but no where near as aggressive as she use to be. I have been feeding her freeze dried krill which she seems to love.

I will take your advice and shut off the lights and not mess with her. She is a Gonodactylus smithii. She does have snails available if she chooses to take them but so far she has left everything alone. The only maintenance I do on tank is 10% water change per week using reef crystals salt.

Thank you again I was getting worried!

 

How big is he? One week is not long at all for an animal of good size. If it was <1.5" i would be a little worried but let it ride out.