1 day without prey?

[keri]

Just wondering if it would be ok for my L4ish chinese mantids to go one day without food if I were to go away? They are housed seperately and I'm feeding them like 20 hydei FFs a day/each.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Just wondering if it would be ok for my L4ish chinese mantids to go one day without food if I were to go away? They are housed seperately and I'm feeding them like 20 hydei FFs a day/each.

It will be O.K. Just tell them that you missed them upon your return.

 

[keri]

It will be O.K. Just tell them that you missed them upon your return.

*giggle* Shall I bring them back souvenirs? (Or maybe just tiny crickets if I can get to a pet store)

 

[Rick]

Yes of course. I don't feed mine daily. They can go awhile without eating. When I go away for more than a few days I just feed them extra and put in extra food before I go.

 

[hibiscusmile]

At that age, they need bigger food anyways, prob won't even miss them

...sorry, I bad :tt2:

 

[keri]

Thanks - I was feeding them every day lol... I'm having a heck of a time getting tiny crickets in tho, SO frustrating...

 

[JoeCapricorn]

Tiny crickets can get frustrating and there will always be escapees. What I find works is to have small cups of egg-carton and take one and put it in a tall vial, then use long forceps to grab the crickets. Any that are left over just get dumped into the container. I have a couple L4 Chinese as well (they are babies of my first pet mantis Emerald who I had last fall and laid two egg cases) but I haven't fed crickets to any of them yet.

Another tip, don't spray the crickets if you feed them fresh greens. That gives them plenty of moisture. If you do spray them, it gets icky inside there :s

I have a habit of feeding my mantises every day, but I also tend to be overly cautious and I don't feed them big prey. I feed the Chinese mantises fruit flies still, and count out how many they get.

Also, depending on where you got your Chinese mantises from, you might even have some siblings of my Chinese. I sent 15 to Peter, the ones I have left from the second hatching are about L3. The ones that I am keeping I might name after characters in Charlotte's Web.

 

[keri]

Tiny crickets can get frustrating and there will always be escapees. What I find works is to have small cups of egg-carton and take one and put it in a tall vial, then use long forceps to grab the crickets. Any that are left over just get dumped into the container. I have a couple L4 Chinese as well (they are babies of my first pet mantis Emerald who I had last fall and laid two egg cases) but I haven't fed crickets to any of them yet.

Another tip, don't spray the crickets if you feed them fresh greens. That gives them plenty of moisture. If you do spray them, it gets icky inside there :s

I have a habit of feeding my mantises every day, but I also tend to be overly cautious and I don't feed them big prey. I feed the Chinese mantises fruit flies still, and count out how many they get.

Also, depending on where you got your Chinese mantises from, you might even have some siblings of my Chinese. I sent 15 to Peter, the ones I have left from the second hatching are about L3. The ones that I am keeping I might name after characters in Charlotte's Web.

Thanks Joe

Yeah, so hard to work with I lose more crickets than I get in, but I'm almost out of fruit flies and they are not easy to get in my area.

I got mine as an ooth from a local garden store I think the company they order them from is based in Victoria, BC. Do you have pics of your guys posted somewhere? I'd love to see.

 

[PhilinYuma]

I haven't used crix in quite a while because I have so many roaches, but here's what I did when I used them. I have a few old glass domes that I got specifically for the purpose. They are the covers with oval tops that they used to put over mantle clocks or large dolls. You can buy them cheaply in second hand stores or here: http://www.collectingwarehouse.com/Product-Home-Page/Glass-Doll-Domes-22-Sizes?gclid

I like them because turned upside down in a bowl, they give the crix no corners to hide in but you could use a tall Pyrex bowl or whatever works for you. I would tip a few crix from a toilet role as Rick suggests into the bowl. No one ever explained to me about using forceps, which is what most people do I have learned, so I just used to put in my fingers and pull out as many as I needed. They are much less likely to escape from fingers than from forceps, and I think that they appreciate the personal touch in their last moments. The same method works equally well with roaches, and anything with wings, except honey bees, can be stunned by chilling in the freezer, though you have to experiment to find the appropriate time, so that they are not dead or coming to before you drop them into their new home.

 

[Rick]

For crickets use a pair of long tongs. If these are very tiny crickets get a small tube. They will go into the tube and then you can just pick that up and tap them out and into the mantid enclosure.

 

[keri]

Thanks guys I find the tiny crickets too hard to handle with tongs/forceps so I will try a little tube. This is the biggest mantis so far, some are nearly this big but one or two are nearly half this size still (I have about 25 in seperate cages)I can't bring myself to do roaches, I think they are cool on an individual basis but when you get big hordes of them together I get serious nightmares (tho they don't bother me when awake - go figure - that's GOT to mean something.... ) I'm already having nightmares about masses of fruitflies and the FFs don't bother me awake either.... my subconcious is weird. Crickets I think are gross and nasty stinky little creatures but I guess I have been so used to them for so long they don't bug me in the same way? Anyhow, that's probably more info than you wanted lol

These pics were from tonight

 

[JoeCapricorn]

They are cute! I'll try to take pictures of my little fellas. I have a video of one catching a fruit fly as first instar. Mine are at the largest fourth instar. Maybe about the same or a molt less than what you show.

 

[Chief Tom]

Chinese Mantids are the best. I love other Mantids too (orchids, ghosts, etc.), but the chinese mantis is the most purest form of the Mantis species in my opinion. Just my opinion.