L. maculata question.

[ShootMe]

I have read that these guys can grow up to 15" long and require a sandbed atleast 1 to 1.5 times the length of the mantis. Will they not accept a premade horizontal pvc borrow with a vertical opening laid beneath the sand?

[Gonodactylus]

Small animals usually will not. Once that they to four or five inches, they will, but they are not particularly happy about it. Their normal hunting posture is from a vertical burrow.

They can grow to 15 inches, but that would take 20 years or more. I have a pair that are about 13 inches and they have remained that size for the past three years. The larger they are the slower they grow.

Roy

[ShootMe]

Alright, I just wanted to see if it was a resonable idea. Stomatpod.com has a 4" specimen available and that was what I was looking at when I upgrade to a 40 breeder over the summer. Should all the spearer mantis have a sandbed atleast 1 to 1.5 times deep as they are long if so it sounds like it is a lot harder to house the spearer mantis's then the smasher ones.

[Gonodactylus]

The most common spearer, Pseudosquilla ciliata, happily lives in pvc as do many squillids. The lysiosquillids are sand specialists and are more difficult, although that said, I have one 11 inch female L. glabriuscula female that has been in a 4 inch diameter pvc horizontal tube for three years and has done very well.

Roy

[ShootMe]

Is your horizontal pvc tube buried beneath the sand with a 90 degree bend and a vertical entrance/exit or have you just used a single piece of pvc to make her burrow?

Also I am interested in these u-shaped burrow’s they build. I assume the u-shaped borrow is built vertically I the shape of a U but how much space separates the two vertical sections of the borrow and will the mantis accept a U shaped borrow made out of pvc pipe?

The first thing that comes to my mind would be that a 6” sand bed with a pvc U-shaped borrow would be able to house a 10”-12” mantis due to the 10”-12” of pvc however I’m guessing that the borrows are as deep as then mantis is long then they build in the U-turn, is that correct?

[Gonodactylus]

A 12 inch L. maculata pair would have the two vertcal burrow separated by 2 to 4 m and the vertical arms would be about 16 inches deep. The diameter would be around 4 inches.

They are not always happy with pvc vertical arms. I use a 1 m length of 4 inch pvc fitted with 45 degree elbows on each end. I lay this on the bottom of the tank with the elbows pointing up. The pipe is then covered with sand to the bottom of the openings. Once the animals start living in the pipe - usually right away - I add an inch or so of sand each day. The animals will mix the sand with mucus and gradually extend the burrow vertically. To cut down on the amount of sand needed, I usually partition the tank length wise so that onl a 6 inch wide sand bed has to be created. If you want to watch the pair, you can cut an observation slit in the side of the pvc tube and seal it to the aquarium wall, covering the opening with black tape.

Roy