I tried a piece of shrimp speared on a coat hanger. No go. I can place it directly in front of his face and he just ignores it.

Is this regular for mantis shrimps? I was under the impression that they were aggressive little buggers that would feast whatever they could get their raptorials on.

Where do you guys get the crabs/ghost shrimps to feed your mantis if they don't take frozen food?

well it sounds like you just have a weird one. I havent heard of a mantis who rejected food so much. maybe its just stressed from the move? try cutting the lights for 24 hours and leaving it alone. feed after that and see what happens. another method that might work is leaving the food in front of the burrow and then leaving. im serious, leave the krill in front of the burrow and log on to canreef for a bit. try 20 minutes.

i would not worry too much. mantids can go quite a long time without any food. is it moving sand and rock around much? maybe he's just getting ready to molt. some mantids will reject food and some will devour it more than usual just prior to a molt.

Actually Ciliata will sometimes ( alot of times) go 3 days without food. They are not nearly as hungry as most smashers. I used to feed it every other day. I think in this case however it is getting used to its new surroundings

My system is...If I see a mantis, he's hungry. If he's completely out of his hiding spot and moving around the tank, then he's really hungry.

Hey untamed, that's exactly what's happening.

He's coming out of his burrow once every hour, bumbles around and goes home. I have a piece of shrimp in there but he's not taking it. I hope I can wean him onto frozen food because I just don't have the time to feed him live food like ghost shrimp and fiddlers.

well if you dont want to have him eat live, then dont feed it live. then he cant acquire a taste for it. keep tryin frozen... like rudy said, it's probably just gettin used to the tank is all.

Pictures now! :D

I woke up this morning and the idiot stick hit me in the head....I bet you any money he is getting ready to molt.

Update: Day 5

Mantis is now out and about frequently, no doubt looking for food. Still not accepting the krill/shrimp that I put in there. Picks it out of his burrow and throws it away.

He'll cave - I know it.

None of mine have ever been fussy. They've always like frozen krill. (thawed, of course)

You can also just ensure you have a good population of hermit crabs in there. That way, they'll have plenty of hunting and you'll get lots of entertainment!