# how to hatch and feed Flies the easy way



## angelofdeathzz (Jan 14, 2012)

I've read many a post here at the forum on how? to hatch and feed flies?(house flies or BB's), so I just want to share a very easy way I've adopted and have been using for a long time now with Very good results.

All the things shown here can be bought at a very reasonable price a Mantisplace.com,(your welcome Rebecca  ).

I feel strongly that gut loading the flies before feeding them to your mantis is very important, I know some will hatch the flies in the enclosure with the mantis, which ends up being poor nutrition for them.

First off keep your unhatched pupae in the fridge in a container with small air holes, then take out what you need of either house fly(small) or blue bottle(large) and put them in the shallow deli(below) with the foam plug in, then if you need them fast keep them warm(75-78) but don't bake them with higher temps, in a day or two they should start to hatch, if not needed quickly room temp will do but may take a day or so longer. make sure you put what your not using back in the fridge.

After they all hatch in the shallow deli put one drop of honey per 10 or so flies on the small metal mesh holes in the lid(so 50 BB's= 5 drops) of the deli, you will see them quickly go for the honey and soon it will be gone with no real mess in or on the container and no additional water or anything required, re-feed as needed (maybe once or twice a day) after a day or so there fully gut loaded and ready to feed to your Mantis(or reptiles), then I simply and quickly take out the stopper(foam plug) on the tall odd shaped container(below) 1st and the deli with the flies 2nd line up the holes and let the feeding container fill up with amount of flies needed to feed, till you try this a few times you can cool down the flies for a few minutes in the fridge to give you more time to line up the holes, then simple feed what you need.

If you find you hatched out to many the extra can be stored in the shallow deli in the fridge, but they will live out of the fridge with daily feedings for over a week at room temp.

Pic's below:


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## beatsnotbombs (Jan 14, 2012)

THANK YOU! Was just about to do some research on this! Very informative!


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## Termite48 (Jan 14, 2012)

This is a good system, Nick. I appreciate your posting it again. I will try it. Is the weird shaped container one in which ff are sold at Petco perhaps? I have had one like it before.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 14, 2012)

Rich S said:


> This is a good system, Nick. I appreciate your posting it again. I will try it. Is the weird shaped container one in which ff are sold at Petco perhaps? I have had one like it before.


Yep, I bought one online that had ff media in the bottom and excelsior w/ ff's in the top, it worked well for flies so I bought 2 more from Rebecca.


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## lunarstorm (Jan 14, 2012)

Nice thread. Admittedly I'm biased and totally agreed as this is exactly what I use.  

I got mine from Rebecca as well (Rebecca runs mantisplace.com for the unaware.)


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 14, 2012)

I am going to put a hole in the fly lid with plug on my new site, also I may need to hire someone to help me get it up in 9 days, it is almost done, have to figure out shiping.... help :helpsmilie:


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 14, 2012)

ps thank you for the plug!


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## LLCoolJew (Jan 14, 2012)

I've been hatching Nick's way for a couple of months now. It's the only thing that has worked successfully for me!!


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 14, 2012)

you know it! when using a couple thousand flies a day, it is the only way!


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 14, 2012)

LLCoolJew said:


> I've been hatching Nick's way for a couple of months now. It's the only thing that has worked successfully for me!!


I've shared this method with a few friends and they all seem to agree, it just works and is super easy, but Lauren is a quick learner and would have figured it out on her own sooner or later, lol. :smarty: 



hibiscusmile said:


> ps thank you for the plug!


Your more than welcome Rebecca! It's the least I could do given how you help so many, including me!


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## warpdrive (Jan 15, 2012)

Nick,

I've been doing it this way for some time now. although I'm a drop more crude in that I just use a simple 32 ouce deli cup.

I also gutload my flys with honey (and bee polin). I sometimes also dust my flys before feeding. Yen's blend is quite nice for this.

Harry


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## dlemmings (Jan 15, 2012)

okay sorry to be the noob again...I feed my mantids wild caught flys all summer and blue bottles for the adults and recently house fly ( much smaller than the wild flys I catch in summer) and fruit flys for my new creo nymphs. so for this method:

1) in the second container how do you get them into the mantis enclosures?

as of now all of my mantids are seperated ( no colonys) so i have to divy up ff or hf to creos and hf or bbf to adult ghosts &amp; sp. lineolas so i fridge or freezer the hf or bb and then pitch them into enclosures or for creo nymphs I tap fruit flys from cultures into empty 32oz deli cups and then tap/divide into creo cups (adding one small hf to the nymphs I know are not molting soon.

2) do you notice the flys die easily if freezer stunned more than once?

I hatch pupa in one container then then fridge or freezer stun them and move to "gut loading" second container which I then feed mantids from. I keep bbf/hf food from mantispets.com &amp; a cottonball with water in the "gutload"station and then chill and tweezer flys to the individual enclosures...is there an easier way. I hope to expand my collection without impinging on family time


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## Rick (Jan 15, 2012)

Looks kinda what I've been doing for years.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 15, 2012)

mantiscurious said:


> 1) in the second container how do you get them into the mantis enclosures?
> 
> as of now all of my mantids are seperated ( no colonys) so i have to divy up ff or hf to creos and hf or bbf to adult ghosts &amp; sp. lineolas so i fridge or freezer the hf or bb and then pitch them into enclosures or for creo nymphs I tap fruit flys from cultures into empty 32oz deli cups and then tap/divide into creo cups (adding one small hf to the nymphs I know are not molting soon.
> 
> ...


1) I use mostly Exo Terra's for many of my mantis, so I just open the door with the room darkened and the flies stay in the enclosure(they fly to the light) if one does get out my cat has some fun and hunts it down. With deli's I always have a feeding port on top(same as the stopper in the fly deli), so I just pop the container in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and then open the ports and tap in as many flies as needed into the single mantis deli, or on the lid then knock them in the hole, if to many stunners drop out I use tweezers to put them in another deli.

2) I don't use the freezer all to often as it can kill some and stun others, which to me is a waste, the fridge is the way to go to slow them down, and I don't keep the shallow deli in the fridge ever as they all go in a day or two. just put only as many as you can use in a few days in the fly deli, but like I said they will last a week or so with no refrigeration needed.


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## itzjustjeff (Jan 15, 2012)

is there a name for that oddly shaped plastic thing?


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 15, 2012)

r u talking about the fruit fly bottle? it is fruit fly bottle!


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 15, 2012)

I'll go with it's a ff bottle. Odd shaped thing-a-ma-bob is a close 2nd though.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 17, 2012)

If you won't be home to feed them or are out of honey, a water crystal or two soaked in sugar water works well also, just slide it in the feeding port(foam stopper).


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## Psychobunny (Jan 17, 2012)

This is my method for feeding flies.

It's more work, and requires fast reflexes, but it works best for me as an alternative to cold stunning:

First pics will show the stuff you need; plastic flex hose (not the wire reinforced kind), plastic pipe cut to size, the standard

"Cup-O-Fly" kit, and a hot glue gun, Dremel tool with standard cutting bit, sand paper to rough up the edges for the glue to stick,

hobby knife:




































After some practise, you can control how many flies you want to go inside the jar.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 17, 2012)

Can your mantis crawl back in your fiy tank? What happens then....


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 17, 2012)

They think it is Thanksgiving and they give thanks!

Looks good, not bad, not bad, but next time maybe ask me to drill hole in lid for you, the mesh is hard to cut thru, or use the cloth one with a hole. Must put on site, so much to do, so little of me..........me.......me....me....... eek!


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## itzjustjeff (Jan 18, 2012)

your mantis will think he/she died and gone to heaven. BUFFET TIME!


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## Termite48 (Jan 18, 2012)

Nick, the mantid the crawls into the fly container becomes a glutonous feeding machine and dies with a smile on his barf drenched face. Ha!


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## PhilinYuma (Jan 19, 2012)

@Angelofdeath: "I feel strongly that gut loading the flies before feeding them to your mantis is very important, I know some will hatch the flies in the enclosure with the mantis, which ends up being poor nutrition for them. That's great, Nick. I feel that "gut loading" tritrophic feeders is a waste of time, so we can have a nice discussion.

I guess that i should start with my usual whinge about gut loading insects in general. This is one of the many practices that have been transferred, without much rhyme or reason, from the reptile hobby, where "gut loading" is used to provide the captive animal with minerals and vitamins that it would not normally get in captivity. No such issue obtains in the rearing of insects

An even stronger argument can be made against using honey as the food supplement. The mantis already has a good store of sugar stored as glycogen in its fat body. Is there any evidence that this is not enough? Also, of course, the insect's soluble sugar, trehalose, does not help growth, it provides quick energy, particularly for the flight muscles. Alas , most mantis nymphs don't fly much. Here is part of an Eclogue by Theocritus that deals with this very issue:

"Why does the bee like carbs, Papa?"

"Well, they are useful things

That give the bee the energy

To flap her tiny wings."

"And do they help her thrive, and grow,

And metamoph her oses?"

"No those are proteins, silly goose.

And lipids drive ketosis." 

On the other hand, flies, though to a lesser degree than most bees, are hirsute, and these hairs trap pollen, which can contain up to 20% protein and other yummy stuff like vitamins, so i suggest that anyone seeking to supplement their mantids' diet should consider shaking their flies in a little pollen or yen's stuff in a plastic bag like Shake 'n Bake".


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 19, 2012)

Very good point, but are there no trace elements of pollen in the honey? It is winter and no pollen to be had outside here , wait no active bugs for feeders either, wow winter sucks. Yen's blend is a safe bet but I use 100% pollen for dusting, just didn't mention that thus far. I see it's my turn for philifacation...


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## lunarstorm (Jan 19, 2012)

Phil, I dig your posts. But they would be easier to read if you used the board's quote system when quoting someone (hope you don't mind my unsolicited opinion). If you want a hand with learning any details, shoot me a PM, I'd be happy to help.

I'll also jump at the opportunity for a nice discussion, as I think I've got some learning to do here.

I'm with you on the concept of the reptile hobby's vitamin-gut-loading practices and terminolgy carrying over to mantids, as it's clear the hobbies share many similarities in tools, enclosures, feeders, etc. [disclaimer: despite catching lots of snakes, frogs, and lizards as a kid, I've never owned one]. I like to believe the two hobbies also share this tenet:

We can improve the general health of our captive mantids by ensuring their feeders eat things that are proven beneficial to insects in general (e.g. pollen, honey, etc.) We might not be able to replicate their wild diet, but we can at least ensure they're eating well (not overfed) and their feeders are too.

What's wrong with that?


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## PhilinYuma (Jan 19, 2012)

Not at all, my friend, and at least I know that when I discuss something with you, I won't be on the wrong end of some strange curse or malediction! Interesting point about pollen in the honey. There should be, but there often isn't. Some beekeepers see this as another conspiracy by China to smuggle in honey via other countries (analysts can identify where a particular type of pollen came from) but it is due to US customer demand. Apparently, just as we like our apples waxed and polished and our vinegar strained and pasteurized, we like our honey to be clear and sparkly and free from "contaminants" like pollen. So look for cloudy honey, and you might luck out!


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## Psychobunny (Jan 19, 2012)

angelofdeathzz said:


> Can your mantis crawl back in your fiy tank? What happens then....


That has only happend once. So I cut some plastic screen with holes big enough for the flys

but the mantids can not get threw it, and hot glued it into the plastic pipe piece.

Problem solved!


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## Psychobunny (Jan 19, 2012)

Rich S said:


> Nick, the mantid the crawls into the fly container becomes a glutonous feeding machine and dies with a smile on his barf drenched face. Ha!


LOL!! actually, you are almost right. The one time it happened, the nymph was gleestricken to be in there.

The only way to get him out w/o releasing 100 flies, was to put it in the fridge to a few minutes and use a pair

of plastic tweezers to pluck him out of there!!

It did him no harm whatever!!


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## Termite48 (Jan 19, 2012)

How funny! That is one well fed nymph. I placed my Aussie giant L-5 nymph into the 32 oz deli. container where I am culturing Hydies. She feasted for part of the day with no competition and then I let her out. She seemed jubilant to get back into a net cage where the air is a bit nicer.


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## Psychobunny (Jan 19, 2012)

hibiscusmile said:


> They think it is Thanksgiving and they give thanks!
> 
> Looks good, not bad, not bad, but next time maybe ask me to drill hole in lid for you, the mesh is hard to cut thru, or use the cloth one with a hole. Must put on site, so much to do, so little of me..........me.......me....me....... eek!


I have a set of hole punching dyes to make the holes in the lids.

I do not glue the small deli cups inside the container because I want them to be able to slid

around inside it.

That way, I can possition them over the hole to dump in more food or water gel w/o having

to remove the lid.

I just got some Repashys water gel to make into cubes. Havent tried it yet.

It's clear, with no coloring, so stuff does not get blue stains!!


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 19, 2012)

Had to look that word up, never heard of it!


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## dlemmings (Feb 1, 2012)

hibiscusmile said:


> Had to look that word up, never heard of it!


Which word?

Repashy's? or Phils' tritrophic and hirsute?

I have to admit to googling "Eclogue by Theocritus"


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## Psychobunny (Feb 3, 2012)

hibiscusmile said:


> Had to look that word up, never heard of it!


Do you mean Repashy?

Here ya go;

http://www.store.repashy.com/


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## sally (Jan 15, 2013)

Great thread, learned a lot. Maybe my flies won't die so fast now.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 15, 2013)

I would ad, you should always buy pure honey made in the USA, if not your probable getting honey made in China(no lie) which means its been filtered, pasteurized and most of the good stuff is removed as well as bad things added.

Here's a link if anyone cares to skim though it.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/honey-laundering/


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 15, 2013)

humm interesting about the honey, who knew! I have been buying from my Marcs, a discount food store I think, but big here in OHio, honey from Germany, and I tell you it is like eating pure silk! I purchased 3 different kinds and the white one is the silk, the other two are ok, but this one, with peanut butter or just on a spoon, makes granny fat! Breitsamer Honig / Honey here is link!


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## Sparky (Jan 15, 2013)

Now if only there was a way to just breed them in the backyard or something...


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## Glitch (Jan 19, 2013)

I do something similar with my flies, but hatch them in a thin plastic half pint cup, with cheesecloth over the top and a stopper low on the side. Flies hatch out (sometimes) and i just paste some honey water on the cheese cloth. then for feeding time, take out the stoppers on the cup'o'flies and the mantis cup, push the holes together and gently tap, the flies just go in, no escapees.

Only issue i'm having is getting the flies to hatch, I bought a half pint of castor maggots, store them in the fridge and I'm finding the hatch rate to be very very low, more so as time goes on. Anyone got any tips to make my supplies last longer?


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## Introvertebrate (Jan 25, 2013)

Our Commander in Chief has pretty impressive house fly skills, although I don't think that one got fed to a mantis. If a House Fly lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, does that make it a White House Fly?


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## sally (Jan 25, 2013)

I am having a low hatchrate as well. I store them in the fridge then put them in the flatter cups with a screen lid . :S


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## Digger (Jan 25, 2013)

Glitch said:


> I do something similar with my flies, but hatch them in a thin plastic half pint cup, with cheesecloth over the top and a stopper low on the side. Flies hatch out (sometimes) and i just paste some honey water on the cheese cloth. then for feeding time, take out the stoppers on the cup'o'flies and the mantis cup, push the holes together and gently tap, the flies just go in, no escapees.
> 
> Only issue i'm having is getting the flies to hatch, I bought a half pint of castor maggots, store them in the fridge and I'm finding the hatch rate to be very very low, more so as time goes on. Anyone got any tips to make my supplies last longer?


Love your avatar, Glitch. (Bug people **are** a strange bunch)..


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## Glitch (Jan 25, 2013)

Digger said:


> Love your avatar, Glitch. (Bug people **are** a strange bunch)..


Hehe, cheers, i love my job/hobby. Just applied for Faceoff on the SyFy channel, so if anyone's in LA, come show me around.


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 25, 2013)

That makes the fly a first house fly!


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## Introvertebrate (Jan 26, 2013)

hibiscusmile said:


> That makes the fly a first house fly!


Good call.


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 26, 2013)

sally said:


> I am having a low hatchrate as well. I store them in the fridge then put them in the flatter cups with a screen lid . :S


I would hatch the flies sooner and keep those in the fridge, taking them out to feed your mantis and to re-feed them honey then put them back in the fridge as soon as you can and they should last weeks that way, which is better than the pupae never hatching even though they seem to be able to do it in nature easy enough?  

Hope that helps...


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## hibiscusmile (May 11, 2013)

Anyone know where the thread is for raising blue bottles? need input!


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## patrickfraser (May 11, 2013)

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=25556&amp;hl=%2Bpedigree+%2Bchunky+%2Bliver#entry199680

You're welcome.


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## hibiscusmile (May 11, 2013)

thanks man!


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## patrickfraser (May 11, 2013)

I had to find it by putting in the dog food i use in search. :lol:


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## patrickfraser (May 11, 2013)

Didn't I make one of my own thread? I can't even remember, but I remember a lot of back and forth with Philinyuma. Search is limited to May 2012. Maybe a mod can help find it, because it is/was probably old.


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## devetaki9 (Jun 8, 2013)

This is an awesome thread!! Time to order more stuff from MantisPlace!!!


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## ScienceGirl (Jun 8, 2013)

PhilinYuma said:


> @Angelofdeath: "I feel strongly that gut loading the flies before feeding them to your mantis is very important, I know some will hatch the flies in the enclosure with the mantis, which ends up being poor nutrition for them. That's great, Nick. I feel that "gut loading" tritrophic feeders is a waste of time, so we can have a nice discussion.
> 
> I guess that i should start with my usual whinge about gut loading insects in general. This is one of the many practices that have been transferred, without much rhyme or reason, from the reptile hobby, where "gut loading" is used to provide the captive animal with minerals and vitamins that it would not normally get in captivity. No such issue obtains in the rearing of insects
> 
> ...





angelofdeathzz said:


> Very good point, but are there no trace elements of pollen in the honey? It is winter and no pollen to be had outside here , wait no active bugs for feeders either, wow winter sucks. Yen's blend is a safe bet but I use 100% pollen for dusting, just didn't mention that thus far. I see it's my turn for philifacation...





PhilinYuma said:


> Not at all, my friend, and at least I know that when I discuss something with you, I won't be on the wrong end of some strange curse or malediction! Interesting point about pollen in the honey. There should be, but there often isn't. Some beekeepers see this as another conspiracy by China to smuggle in honey via other countries (analysts can identify where a particular type of pollen came from) but it is due to US customer demand. Apparently, just as we like our apples waxed and polished and our vinegar strained and pasteurized, we like our honey to be clear and sparkly and free from "contaminants" like pollen. So look for cloudy honey, and you might luck out!


When buying honey for mantis feeding, here is what to look for:


*Unfiltered or minimally filtered.* _Honey can be filtered through tight weaves many times, or a larger weave to just make sure no bee parts may be in there. Filtering can removed the pollen that may be in the honey comb and the pollen that may be in with the honey._
*Unheated or minimally heated.* _When it is heated, it loses some of its nutrients._
*Organic, if at all possible.* _Beekeepers don't have much control over where their bees forage, but if they place their hives in the middle of a 2 mile radius of organic flowers, the chances are pretty high that it will be organic. To be labeled as "organic", beekeepers must submit a testing of their honey to a lab and have it come back with a super low percentage of pesticides, herbicides, etc._
The best way to buy honey is to find a local beekeeper. Then you're supporting local bees and their keepers, and you know where your honey is coming from. You also have someone to ask about how they process their honey. You can also see if they have pollen avaliable for you to buy.

Another way that you can buy honey is in the comb. It is wrapped in its original, natural way. The color of the wax doesn't matter - wax cappings can vary from dark brown to white and it just depends on the colony of bees. Then you can open a cell of honey up with a toothpick and feed it to your mantids.

*Remember to always keep honey in a closed, airtight container. Honey absorbs water (it has been reduced from a very wet nectar to having less than 18.5% water) and will ferment when the water percentage is over about 18.5%.*

*Pollen should be frozen to keep it at it's freshest. It will stay fresh for up to 3 years, but numbers vary based on the source.*


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