# GOT MY FEEDERS...WHAT NEXT?



## kobelu3 (Jan 6, 2014)

I got my 100 housefly pupae and 50 medium mealworms. Question is :blush: , whats next? :helpsmilie: What do I do? :helpsmilie: Where do i put them? :helpsmilie: What do i feed them? :lol: Any more info relating to this would help me so very much! THANXX!


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## OctoberRainne (Jan 6, 2014)

The flies you will need to hatch and then refrigerate to keep them suspended yet alive but slowed down, until your next feeding,but houseflies are a poor choice because they do not last as long as Blue and green bottles. Meal worms you can also refrigerate actually. Hope that helps a bit.


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## Extrememantid (Jan 7, 2014)

I just give my mealworms little pieces of apples and oranges.. And btw you don't need to make your title in all caps.. Please, I feel like your yelling at me lol


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## sally (Jan 7, 2014)

You can cut up a worm and feed little pieces to your nymphs if your nymphs are still very tiny. You can offer the pieces of worm with tweezers. You can put the fly pupae in a 320z container with a plug in a lid that has holes covered in material. Hatch the flys in the container. After they hatch drip the honey on some of the holes to feed the flys for a day. then put them in the fridge until you need them. With the plug in the lid you don't have to take off the whole lid to get out the flys. The flys become active really fast! When you are done put the container back in the fridge, I agree with October, houseflys don't live as long....but some nymphs might eat them easier. house flys are fast and get everwhere!!! lol. The worms keep great in the fridge too. Good luck. You will learn by trial and error


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## Rick (Jan 7, 2014)

I don't use mealworms because they are a poor choice for mantis food. As far as the flies, keep the pupa in the fridge and take out the amount you want in order for them to hatch. I hatch flies in 32 oz insect cups. Once the flies are adults I feed them honey. When feeding to mantids l put the flies in the freezer to slow them down and then pluck them out with long tweezers.

Alternatively you can allow all the flies to hatch and keep them in the fridge but with that method you can't really feed them. I also prefer bluebottles to house flies. The whole thing takes trial and error for sure.


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## AxolotlsAreCoolToo (Jan 7, 2014)

make sure you offer them water addition to the honey and bee pollen. having an extra small less powerful refridge helps.

the quality of your mantids reflects how well your feeders and kept


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## happy1892 (Jan 7, 2014)

You can breed cockroaches like Shelfordella lateralis. Shelfordella lateralis I have read can infest your home. The males can fly but only when healthy and when the temperature is warm. Today the weather here in Wake Forest is cold. The ground is frozen now  . I am keeping some nymphs outside in a container and they barely moving right now but hey are not frozen. I put a nymph in the freezer and it died after freezing I think (it's legs and whole body exploded or not exploded just popped out).


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## Extrememantid (Jan 7, 2014)

happy1892 said:


> You can breed cockroaches like Shelfordella lateralis. Shelfordella lateralis I have read can infest your home. The males can fly but only when healthy and when the temperature is warm. Today the weather here in Wake Forest is cold. The ground is frozen now  . I am keeping some nymphs outside in a container and they barely moving right now but hey are not frozen. I put a nymph in the freezer and it died after freezing I think (it's legs and whole body exploded or not exploded just popped out).


Also dubias, I think males can only flutter and females have wing buds only.


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 8, 2014)

next time you order, have the supplier put in a feeder care sheet, also on my site I have a care section to tell you how to take care of them.


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## happy1892 (Jan 8, 2014)

Extrememantid said:


> Also dubias, I think males can only flutter and females have wing buds only.


I have had Red Runners fly. There are many other cockroaches that would be good feeders.


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## kobelu3 (Jan 9, 2014)

hibiscusmile said:


> next time you order, have the supplier put in a feeder care sheet, also on my site I have a care section to tell you how to take care of them.


i know!! thanx ;3 i saw ur caresheet for feeders. really helpful!


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## kobelu3 (Jan 9, 2014)

thanx guys! really much appreciated. c:


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## gm88 (Feb 21, 2014)

Question about houseflies: Can you just put some pupae into the mantis enclosure and let them hatch that way?


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## Shadow (Feb 21, 2014)

Yes


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## Digger (Feb 21, 2014)

Rick said:


> I don't use mealworms because they are a poor choice for mantis food. As far as the flies, keep the pupa in the fridge and take out the amount you want in order for them to hatch. I hatch flies in 32 oz insect cups. Once the flies are adults I feed them honey. When feeding to mantids l put the flies in the freezer to slow them down and then pluck them out with long tweezers.
> 
> Alternatively you can allow all the flies to hatch and keep them in the fridge but with that method you can't really feed them. I also prefer bluebottles to house flies. The whole thing takes trial and error for sure.


I do use mealies during winter because 1. they are effortless to keep 2. other food is so scarce (I only keep 1-3 mantids, so flies go to waste). I agree Rick, mealies are far from ideal. I They do have a fair protein count, but too much chitin to yummy goo ratio.


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## Digger (Feb 21, 2014)

Can a tough guy like me say..............yummy goo ?? :tank:


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## patrickfraser (Feb 21, 2014)

I think it's better to feed the flies some honey (more yummy goo :lol: ) and let them bulk up a little. They are not much more than "shells" when freshly eclosed.


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## Extrememantid (Feb 21, 2014)

gm88 said:


> Question about houseflies: Can you just put some pupae into the mantis enclosure and let them hatch that way?


You can, but they won't provide much nutrition


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## gm88 (Feb 23, 2014)

Extrememantid said:


> You can, but they won't provide much nutrition


It's been almost 3 days since I got them and put a few in each mantis enclosure and no flies have hatched yet.


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## Extrememantid (Feb 23, 2014)

gm88 said:


> It's been almost 3 days since I got them and put a few in each mantis enclosure and no flies have hatched yet.


It took me 5-7 days with green bottles when I put them in enclosures seperatly... When I hatch them with all the other pupae it takes like an hour.


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## Rick (Feb 23, 2014)

gm88 said:


> It's been almost 3 days since I got them and put a few in each mantis enclosure and no flies have hatched yet.


That isn't unusual. The pupae you got are probably young.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 23, 2014)

yea, young pupae upsets a lot of people, but then so do the old, all that is acceptable in most instances is the "just right" goldilocks style. No one in America wants to wait, they want drive thru :scooter: 

pupae and they want it now!


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## Summerbug (Feb 23, 2014)

Here is my experience. The trick for mealworms is to fatten them up. Don't use them fresh after they arrive (when they are skinny). I keep mealworms at room temperature. I fatten them up by letting them live in their food/substrate. I spray the mealworms with water once a day. I keep my mealworms in raisin bran (without the raisins). The meal worms eat that raisin bran up and get fat and juicy and filled with lots &amp; lots of "yummy goo." They also get squirmy &amp; active and I've had mantises dive into the mealworm cup to grab a mealworm because the mealworm squirming got the mantises attention. It will take a while (couple of weeks) for mealworms to fatten up. You might want to fatten a few up (like 10-20) depending on how many mantises you are feeding. Store the rest in the fridge. If you keep too many mealworms for too long at room temp they may become beetles. That will happen faster the warmer the room is. Mantises will eat beetles but they don't seem to enjoy them as much as the worm (they lose interest after a few nibbles of beetles). I never use mealworms as the ONLY food source though.


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