O. scyllarus questions/concerns
 

Hey all,

It's officially 11 days with my peacock! He (pretty sure it's male) is about 4-4.5 inches and looks quite healthy. I see no signs of shell rot as he roams, not usually straying too far from his usual territory. He acts pretty normal for a mantis except for one thing, I have never seen, heard, nor observed any evidence of him using his raptorial appendages.*

As I watch him, it begins to worry me because he won't even strike emerald crabs that enter his burrow. I witnessed a medium sized emerald crab walk right past him, through the front door. Also, I have watched him pick up hermits, inspect the hermit/shell, bring them into the burrow and either toss them back out a minute later or they end up walking out the front or back. Sometimes when he tosses them out he will pick them back up when try to move away and redo the process. This is my first peacock, but is this not odd behavior? I believe he can pull smaller hermits out of the shell with his other appendages and I have fed him smaller pieces of frozen shrimp with forceps twice over the 11 days I've had him. On occasion when I'm using a grabber to flip snails over, place shells, ect. near his burrow he will quickly dash to the grabber, and dash back to his burrow agressively but never swings.

I thought maybe it was because be was going to molt/just molted but it seems like he would have done that by now, he has good water quality and all minerals/elements needed (unless I'm missing something lol).*

Aside from the mantis I currently own, I have a fever for more! I was very curious to the idea of adding another, smaller species to this tank. I was thinking Gonodactylellus viridis, or one of the Neogonodactylus smashers. Since these smaller species often live in rock cavities and LR, and considering my tank is 100 gallon with approx 120 pounds of LR, could I get away with it or is it just a bad idea?

I greatly appreciate you're wisdom and advice, and for reading this wall of text! I will post pictures if needed

I can’t really help about the peacock, but you can always get a 10-20 gallon for the small smashers :) the next one I want to get is a wennerae. Ciliatas are very interactive and fun to watch also but they’re spearers

Wennerae are one of my favorite species, very hardy and active. Not sure if I want a spearer with a smasher, only because I don't want to deal with different food sources and I don't believe the spearer could defend itself from a smasher

No I don’t think you should risk putting another mantis with the peacock... I meant if you wanted another small tank with one, I recommend a ciliata :)

I would not advise putting a smaller gonodactylid in the same tank as an Ol scyllarus. Peacocks are remarkably fast for their size and I have watched them run down and kill 5 cm Gonodactylus. You might be able to get away with adding a small (3 cm) Haptosquilla that rarely leave their cavity but even that is a risk.

Large male O. scyllarus often will not use their raptorial appendages for a couple of weeks after molting. Are the rapts sprung (extended)?

Roy

Well I'm glad to know that! I think I won't add another mantis then. I would want another active species and more active = better chance of my peacock catching it (I would assume)

His raptorials look normal to me (that doesn't mean a whole lot) they are not sprung and he holds them symmetrically. I will upload a picture tomorrow as he has already closed his burrow for the night.

I greatly appreciate the help Dr. Roy. Maybe I haven't given it enough time but I'd like to know if he is ok!

Here's a photo of him, more can be provided.

Both Peacocks that I've owned took the better part of a month to start behaving normally. This included the ability to strike hard-shelled prey. Just try to be patient. It's hard waiting for them to come around but it'll happen, trust me!

Oh the dreaded quality of patience is here to taunt me again :headwallblue: :lmao:

It's the most common theme in this hobby!