# Question about Mantis Diets



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

Hi I just want to know for most commend species mantis during their life cycle .... Can they only eat Fruit flies from L1-L3 L4 to adult only cricket and still able mate and produce Ootheca fine with out problem??

Species I need to know to my Question are below . Friend from over sea Taiwan is sending me some Ooth I want to do some research to understand more ... Cause Canada sucks on Feeders..... Can't buy anything other then Cricket, meal warm , superwarm, and buterwarm... No flying feeder other then FF's are being sold in Canada kinda sad..... hope some Pro's Can help me out .

Thank you .

*Tenodera Aridifolia Sinensis *

*Hierodula unimaculata*

_*Oxyopsis gracilis*_

Brunneria borealis

Hierodula bipapilla

Acromantis formosana

Odontomantis planiceps


----------



## psyconiko (Jan 20, 2012)

Fishing stores in Canada?they must have some maggots....


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

Nikkko said:


> Fishing stores in Canada?they must have some maggots....


.... no they only sell earth warms...i guess i need to make my question clear.. can adult mantis only eat crickets and still be healthy and reproduce. ?


----------



## patrickfraser (Jan 20, 2012)

I don't see why not. Maybe you could look into establishing a dubia colony. Very easy to do and provides feeders of all sizes from smaller than 1/4 inch for new babies to 3+ inches as adults and everything in between.


----------



## Termite48 (Jan 20, 2012)

I would not try to raise exotic mantids on Crickets only. As Scott says, you can raise roaches of a few species. There are also wild caught flying insects when it is warm enough in your locale to pursue this healthful dietary supplement. There are large flies and bees that can be used quite well in the mantids diet to replace what you cannot buy. You can culture houseflies once you have a bunch of larva. You can easily get flies going that are not fruit flies.


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

patrickfraser said:


> I don't see why not. Maybe you could look into establishing a dubia colony. Very easy to do and provides feeders of all sizes from smaller than 1/4 inch for new babies to 3+ inches as adults and everything in between.


 Roachs not allow in Canada........ No feeder store sells them .... Canada ..............sucks....


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

Rich S said:


> I would not try to raise exotic mantids on Crickets only. As Scott says, you can raise roaches of a few species. There are also wild caught flying insects when it is warm enough in your locale to pursue this healthful dietary supplement. There are large flies and bees that can be used quite well in the mantids diet to replace what you cannot buy. You can culture houseflies once you have a bunch of larva. You can easily get flies going that are not fruit flies.


 They don't sell any types flies other then FF's..


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

SilentDeviL said:


> They don't sell any types flies other then FF's.. Thats why I'm worried my mantis will not do well by only eating Crickets. is freezing -5 out side no insects can be found.....


----------



## Ruaumoko (Jan 20, 2012)

what on earth do your freshwater fishermen use as bait??


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

Ruaumoko said:


> what on earth do your freshwater fishermen use as bait??


 Earth Warm .... all the way or Minnows.. Leeches. we are talking about live bates..... Never heard people use... maggots...


----------



## lancaster1313 (Jan 20, 2012)

I thought that maggots might be more popular in canada, but who knows? I can't get any locally in S. Florida cause most of the fishing here is in the ocean and maggots would probably go unnoticed to these ocean monsters.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=maggots%20bait%20canada&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0CDwQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forkedtreeranch.com%2Fnewfishingbait.html&amp;ei=K94ZT5u7NJS_2QWB4IX4Cw&amp;usg=AFQjCNGuBvatPJ66dflm68NjQgYTdjljIg


----------



## Termite48 (Jan 20, 2012)

Are you allowed to have Blue Bottle and Housefly pupae mailed to you? If so try www.mantisplace.com Go to the tab which is "feeder insects". Once it is established that you can get them in the mail, then follow some Forum posting on how to get the pupae to eclose at the proper rate that you need them. You can culture the rest and start you own breeding of them. HF are really simple. BB take a little more planning. There are postings for this also.


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

likebugs said:


> I thought that maggots might be more popular in canada, but who knows? I can't get any locally in S. Florida cause most of the fishing here is in the ocean and maggots would probably go unnoticed to these ocean monsters.
> 
> http://www.google.co...m68NjQgYTdjljIg


 thanks for the link... they are located in the states they can bring to over the border to BC Canada ... but the shipping from BC to Toronot with 2days shipping is $50 =.="


----------



## Termite48 (Jan 20, 2012)

There is another link that I can give you if the shipping from Ohio is too severe, there is a feeder insect breeder who is a member of the Forum and he resides in upstate New York. Perhaps he has a trick or two. I see that he has not been active on the Mantid Forum since October. I will try to get his contact information to you.


----------



## Ruaumoko (Jan 20, 2012)

http://www.forkedtreeranch.com/Baitdealers.html

They came up on a google search and have a list of suppliers based in canada.

Might be worth having a look around there to get you started perhaps.

Or I may be miles off the mark lol


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

Ruaumoko said:


> http://www.forkedtre...aitdealers.html
> 
> They came up on a google search and have a list of suppliers based in canada.
> 
> ...


 Thx for the site but these guy are the same people or the same dealer as the one was linked above.. shipping to me would be $50 ... just paying $50 for shipping is crazy....


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 20, 2012)

Rich S said:


> There is another link that I can give you if the shipping from Ohio is too severe, there is a feeder insect breeder who is a member of the Forum and he resides in upstate New York. Perhaps he has a trick or two. I see that he has not been active on the Mantid Forum since October. I will try to get his contact information to you.


 Ya thx for the info hit me up if u can find this guy . .. But can I still get an answer ? So from ur understanding Just eating Cricket Mantis can still grow fine and will be able to reproduce ooth right ?? I know Indo and Violent can't eat Cricket it will affect Female when laying Ooth . but that wont affect *Hierodula or *_*Oxyopsis gracilis right??? *_


----------



## Termite48 (Jan 21, 2012)

I would not raise any species on only crickets. I have one Oxyopsis and she loves a mixture of food types. I fed her meal worms and a bee today because I was out of lies. I might try some roaches when mine start producing. I think you can get by with crickets for a while, but for healthier mantids, you should feed more than one type of food. If you do feed crickets, be sure to feed the crickets well for a few days before giving them as feeders to the mantids. They need to be cleaned out from any pet store source and filled with a good cricket food. I use Fluckers cricket food.


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 21, 2012)

Rich S said:


> I would not raise any species on only crickets. I have one Oxyopsis and she loves a mixture of food types. I fed her meal worms and a bee today because I was out of lies. I might try some roaches when mine start producing. I think you can get by with crickets for a while, but for healthier mantids, you should feed more than one type of food. If you do feed crickets, be sure to feed the crickets well for a few days before giving them as feeders to the mantids. They need to be cleaned out from any pet store source and filled with a good cricket food. I use Fluckers cricket food.


 Thanks for the info i'll feed the crickets some fresh potato slice to clean them out . and mix with meal warm hope that will be better choice...... we need some pro states Feeder company to come to Canada.... open few stores lol ... other wise the shipping cost is pain in the axx shipping charge is more then the food ..........


----------



## Termite48 (Jan 21, 2012)

You can always make fruit fly traps. They are attracted to ripe or overripe fruit. My neghbor gets hundreds of them congregating in his box of beer and soda cans that are going to the recycler. There are ways to catch the fruit flies. I used to mash up some banana and put it in a small cup used for food samples. Then I would partially cover the cup with a larger cup. The flies always find a way in and then when there are many there you can close quickly the larger covering cup and take the whole thing to the freezer to stun them for one to two minutes. You can then feed them and when you have extra, you can start a wild ff culture.


----------



## SilentDeviL (Jan 21, 2012)

Rich S said:


> You can always make fruit fly traps. They are attracted to ripe or overripe fruit. My neghbor gets hundreds of them congregating in his box of beer and soda cans that are going to the recycler. There are ways to catch the fruit flies. I used to mash up some banana and put it in a small cup used for food samples. Then I would partially cover the cup with a larger cup. The flies always find a way in and then when there are many there you can close quickly the larger covering cup and take the whole thing to the freezer to stun them for one to two minutes. You can then feed them and when you have extra, you can start a wild ff culture.


 Is - 8c out side at Toronto ... Don't think any insect is alive out there... but yes lots in the summer


----------



## GreenOasis (Jan 21, 2012)

Pamela of Forked Tree Ranch WILL ship things via normal "ground" rate (Priority), but she will not guarantee them if you choose this option. It is at your own risk.

I would rather feed superworms (kingworms) than crickets. I don't even like feeding our dragons crickets...although, it helps tiny babies get going &amp; feeding.


----------

