# Dusting fruit flies



## cyclosternum1 (Oct 21, 2015)

Having bred and raised dart frogs am used to dusting the flies before feeding with vitamin and/or calcium powder, has anyone tried this with there flies for mantids ?


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## CosbyArt (Oct 28, 2015)

Amazed you didn't get a response, as it seemed in the past several keepers did dusting of feeders. I purchased a used plastic French coffee press thing that would be perfect for dusting and looked at getting some various pollen or powders from MantisPets, but never got much further than that. I imagine the mantids would love the dusting, but find too many things to do without worrying about it.


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 28, 2015)

Its all I can do to dust the house.....


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## Introvertebrate (Oct 30, 2015)

You need a _really_ small vacuum cleaner to dust fruit flies Rebecca.


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## DeShawn (Nov 2, 2015)

I tried it for awhile but didn't notice much difference except with a couple species (mainly orchids and other "flower" types). They seemed a bit more active and colorful, but I didn't have any group to compare them to. I just started keeping mantids again, but I do plan to dust the flies with bee pollen every few feedings.

I think I will try a group of mantids fed on dusted flies and another without and see if there really is a difference.


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## Introvertebrate (Nov 2, 2015)

cyclosternum1 said:


> Having bred and raised dart frogs am used to dusting the flies before feeding with vitamin and/or calcium powder, has anyone tried this with there flies for mantids ?


Feeder dusting is a requirement for reptiles and amphibians. People generally don't dust feeders for their invertebrate pets. They don't feel its necessary. In the case of tarantulas, it wouldn't work anyway. Ts just punch a hole in their prey, and suck out the innards. They would discard the part that you dusted. Mantids, on the other hand, eat the whole feeder.


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## cyclosternum1 (Nov 4, 2015)

Thanks for the replies.... those that were serious anyway, the mantids I am talking about are orchids, and am going to dust the flies with the vitamin powder lightly now and then, as well as bee pollen as they surely ingest that along with their catch amongst the flowers in the wild.


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## Rick (Nov 6, 2015)

There might be some benefit in dusting with fresh pollen. I went years without dusting mantis feeders and then did it for awhile but didn't notice any difference. I think I would stick to just plain pollen though as anything else marketed for mantids is probably a gimmick and not based on real science as you see in the reptile hobby.


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## womantis (Nov 7, 2015)

i agree with regard to the gimmick marketing. plain fresh pollen - where do you purchase? amazon?


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## idologrl (Nov 9, 2015)

I get my organic bee pollen from ebay. I use a coffee grinder to grind it up


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