What is this mantis DOing...

[Anihiel1]

Backstory- beautiful large mantis hitchhiker, kept him and put him in his own 3g with some rock.
Won't eat. He pulls the food into a hole in the side of the rock, then pops back out to glare at me before chucking the food (hard!) in my direction. Finally got him to eat a few bits of shrimp pellet before throwing that at me too....but I mean he's not dead so I assume he's eating pods or something. Other times he just sits in the hole looking at me or watching things outside the tank.
Now today a new behavior- I observed him angrily bricking up the hole with bits of black sand. I though thought he was trying to throw it so i suctioned it out. Nope! He glared at me and starting rebuilding. Now it's completely blocked.
What is going on here???

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I have a G. smithii mantis that will block its holes for two reasons:

1. He's had enough of you peering at him (seriously)
2. He's getting ready to molt.

If he is going to molt, you may not hear or see him for a couple weeks. Do not try to rearrange his rocks or find him - it will stress him out.

As for feeding, small hermit crabs, small cerith snails, and clams on the half shell or small pieces of shrimp/large krill on occasion. Let him hunt the crabs and snails and use his natural skills. I feed mine a clam or piece of shrimp once every ten days to two weeks and it is more than enough food.

 

[Anihiel1]

Ahhh, could be ready for a molt? With me peering at him, he will often pop out if his hole when he hears my voice and sit there looking at me/ looking around. But Is that actually an angry get away from me stare? I took it to mean he was hungry, and I tweezer him a shrimp or piece of clam. Usually every 2-3 days. Maybe I'm feeding him way too much and that's why he's throwing it back at me? Could that have triggered a molt? Never had a mantis before so a tad excited to see how big he will get. He's roughly 4 inches presently.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I'd stop feeding for a bit and see how he behaves. I would definitely recommend getting some extra CUC and let him hunt. It keeps them more active and some say by using their smashers it keeps them hard.

 

[jeffrey750750]

That is such an amazing looking creature, how often are these found as hitchhikers?

 

[Anihiel1]

Not sure, kind of a fluke I think for mine. He was in a shipment of maricultured live rock that was wrapped in wet paper, no water. Found him in the paper, thought he was dead but put him in a qt bin to check. Started running around as soon as he had water.

 

[Anihiel1]

I keep saying "he" but not really sure, how can you tell????

 

[jeffrey750750]

That's pretty cool, nice to watch him grow up

 

[Anihiel1]

Not sure what species he is, would either of you know? Pic attached of when he first arrived; showing coloration etc

 

[Albertan22]

That is such an amazing looking creature, how often are these found as hitchhikers?

About 11 years ago I set up a 120g with all live rock, there was no dry base rock at the time. I pulled about 6 mantis shrimp out of that rock and still had several in the tank I couldn’t trap. Back then they were super common and most considered them one of the worst pests. Funny how times have changed and people are excited to find them now.