Clubs lopped off...intentional? Grow back?

[marillion]

My 5" female peacock mantis shrimp is missing both of her 'clubs' right up to the joint, and I was wondering if this was possibly done intentionally due to the distributor. I know it sounds far-fetched, especially since the same distributor sells blue-ringed octopi...

Just musing out loud...what does everyone else think?

Thanks in advance...

Peace,

Chip

[ADHybrid]

Well, this is what I heard. I heard that if you dont give your mantis something hard to smash (such as crabs as food like I do) they will figure they dont need them and drop them off. There supposed to grow back after they molt. I'm not sure how much of this is acurate but I hope it helps.:rolleyes:

[orkspace]

I have heard of distributors and divers removing an animal's raptorial appendages in order to make it safer to handle. Provide your beast with an environment in which it will thrive and in time it will regerate its lost raptorial appendages.

[Gonodactylus]

I have received entire shipments of O. scyllarus with the dactyls removed - obviously done intentionally. The collectors and particularly the shippers are afraid that the animals with puncture their shipping bags. I refuse to buy from any supplier who sells such stock. To be fair, however, the guys who remove the dactyls are doing so thinking that the buyer won't notice and/or care. They will grow back and with most of the raptorial appendage intact, people don't always notice.

On the other hand, there are lots of reasons that animals arrive completely missing both raptorial appendages. The most common is some sort of stress - heat, cold, organic solvents or poisons, low oxygen. This causes the muscle to be destroyed and the animals physically tear off their own raptorial appendages so they can grow new ones. Alternatively, the raptorial appendages often get stuck in nets and are ripped off while the handler is trying to get them loose.

Roy