# Wacky Question...food dye



## FieroRumor (Jan 16, 2006)

Howdy! I was wondering what you think would happen if ya fed a mantis liquid food dye. Do ya think it could possibly affect their color as they grow?

*shrugs*


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## Rick (Jan 16, 2006)

I doubt it. I hope you don't try.


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## FieroRumor (Jan 16, 2006)

I doubt it would be toxic to the lil bugger... worst thing, it would turn its lil lips and poop blue.  

Not trying to torture 'em or anything...

I have been feeding one of my nymphs teeny pieces of cat food instead of fruit flies, and it's already twice as large as its brothers and sisters from the same batch! They have yet to molt (chompin' on fruitflies) and it has molted TWICE in the past week alone! :shock:


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## Ian (Jan 17, 2006)

woah...

Try it on spinach...


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## Johnald Chaffinch (Jan 17, 2006)

is the large one female and the rest male ?


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## KennethJ78 (Jan 17, 2006)

Try eating some catfood yourself... maybe you'll grow a lot bigger then the people around you as well :roll: :?

What's with just feeding Mantids normal prey like flies, crickets, roaches, grasshoppers, moths....


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## randyardvark (Jan 17, 2006)

Its fun to watch :wink:


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## FieroRumor (Jan 18, 2006)

> Try eating some catfood yourself... maybe you'll grow a lot bigger then the people around you as well :roll: :? What's with just feeding Mantids normal prey like flies, crickets, roaches, grasshoppers, moths....


there's nothing wrong with feeding them that stuff, it's just an experiment...when ya have 9 million scurrying mantids...

I'm not exactly torturing them... That one lil bugger actually runs up and ATTACKS the kitty food now! LOL!

I gotta get a video of THAT...  

The piece of food was about 4x the size of its head, and it attacked it before I had a chance to cut off a chunk of it...!

I think the food dye could be interesting... it would show the movement of fluid through the mantis...


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## FieroRumor (Jan 29, 2006)

Well, after it molted AGIN, I switched him/her to regular ole' crickets... but as for the food dye experiment...

Red food dye + Mantis = PINK mantis! :shock:

His legs are mostly green though.


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## Jodokohajjio (Jan 31, 2006)

Now that's interesting... I wonder how long it will last. Keep us updated...I, at least, want to know what happens!


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## Exotic-Mantis (Feb 2, 2006)

Cool experiments, what sort of cat food are you using? Hard cat food dabbed in water or soft cat food or what???

Thanks,

Eros


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## FieroRumor (Feb 3, 2006)

They are low-fat chicken cat treats that I had (soft)


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## Mantis Keeper (Feb 5, 2006)

Quite the interesting experiment, as I was reading this I was going to suggest that you test your dye theory on crickets first, but it seems you've already done it. Quite interesting that the mantis changes color but not unexpected. There are lots of instances of critters changing color based on diet. Some things use the pigments in their food to 'color themselves' so I guess it's not that far fetched a thought.


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## FieroRumor (Feb 8, 2006)

I only fed him a little food dye a few times, and it did affect his coloring.

His forehead, thorax, and top side of his abdomen are a pink-to-reddish color, the rest of him is green. The Chinese mantids around here are usually brown, it will be interesting to see what color he ends up being when he's an adult.

My digital camera's macro setting is not working for some reason, but I'll try to get a few pics of him when I get a chance.


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## 13ollox (Mar 12, 2006)

Hey , just read this thread and wondering how its getting along now ?

thankx

Neil


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## FieroRumor (Mar 15, 2006)

The mantis is ok, I stopped with the food dye after it let me know it didn't really like the taste of it. (wiped it's mouth on the floor whenever it drank any)

The next shed, it lost almost all the pink color, now, a shed or two later, it's almost an adult and is brown.


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## Exotic-Mantis (Mar 15, 2006)

Ugh that sux. Another idea someone could try is feeding the prey food coloring, then feed them to the mantids. Flies are the perfect prey.

Thanks,

Eros


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## Joe (Mar 16, 2006)

that sucks! wish u couldve gotten a pic of it when it was pink

Joe


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