# Adult male ghost mantis food?



## cwebster (May 26, 2018)

Spooky mantis eats very little. He is afraid of blue bottle flies and hydei seem too small now. He isnt interested in small crickets. Have been catching bird seed moths but have never seen him eat one. Just ordered some house fly pupae from Patty at Mantids Galore. He doesnt seem to like water either. How do you feed adult ghosts? Thanks.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 27, 2018)

I would get some roaches and hand feed him. Good luck!

- MantisGirl13


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## cwebster (May 27, 2018)

Thank you. What size roaches? We have some dubia but they are gigantic.


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## Mantis Lady (May 27, 2018)

Break one into pieces, that is how i fed my mantis because i didn't had something smaller at the moment. Hold the piece to his mouth and see if he eats and grabs it.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 28, 2018)

I would do as Little Mantis says. Break them into pieces, and hold the white fat in the abdomen up to his mouth. I know it sounds disgusting, but it is all part of mantis keeping!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (May 28, 2018)

But remove the head first to prevent suffering of the roach. the other piece of the roach you can feed to another mantis. That was what i did.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 28, 2018)

Yeah, I don't really do that. I just tear the abdomen off, and give half to one mantis, half to another.

- MantisGirl13


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## Predatorhousepet (May 28, 2018)

cwebster said:


> Spooky mantis eats very little. He is afraid of blue bottle flies and hydei seem too small now. He isnt interested in small crickets. Have been catching bird seed moths but have never seen him eat one. Just ordered some house fly pupae from Patty at Mantids Galore. He doesnt seem to like water either. How do you feed adult ghosts? Thanks.


Is it a male adult ghost? Because males eat very little as adults while females are ravenously hungry. If it is a male then he will probably only eat once or twice a week at most and probably only eat one or maybe two flies at a time. When he isn't hungry backing away from prey or batting it away is normal, it may seem like he is scared of prey but that's usually not the case. Adult ghosts can eat bluebottle flies no problem, that is the correct size prey for them. Houseflies will work too but they are on the small side for that size of mantis. Hydei fruit flies are far too small and are mainly only appropriate for very young nymphs, at L3/L4 ghosts are big enough for houseflies. Ghosts will occasionally drink the water droplets off the side of their enclosure when you mist but you don't need to worry if they show no interest in drinking water, they get most of their necessary fluids from their prey. However, you can try placing a droplet of water or honey diluted with water on your finger when you handle him (be careful when handling adult males, they can fly and may take off suddenly. The room should be closed to prevent escapes) or you can try offering it from a small dropper or plastic pipette. Mantises usually love honey water and besides being a treat it's a great pick-me-up if they are sluggish, weak, or sick. As long as your ghost's abdomen isn't getting extremely thin and he doesn't seem weak or have trouble balancing he is probably fine. He will catch his own food when he is hungry if you let him be, force feeding isn't needed if he is acting healthy and normal. Also, be advised that male ghosts are short-lived compared to females, they only live 6 to 8 weeks into adulthood. 



Little Mantis said:


> But remove the head first to prevent suffering of the roach. the other piece of the roach you can feed to another mantis. That was what i did.


Roaches head and bodies can both live several days when separated so beheading them isn't going to kill them, all it does is separate the roach into two live pieces and it might actually be worse for them if the head is going uneaten. On the other hand, roaches have an extremely simple nervous system, it is very different than the complicated nervous system of a mammal or a human. Insects don't process pain in the same way you or I do, although they do react to it...how much they actually feel is unknown. (I do agree that being killed by a mantis seems pretty brutal from our point of view. Not an ideal death but then nature isn't fair.) Stunning an insect with cold by putting it in the fridge for a few minutes first is probably the most effective way to alleviate any potential suffering but some mantises won't eat unless their prey is actively moving and may or may not be tricked into it by making it "dance" around in front of them, mantises prey instincts are set off by very specific types of movement. However, as suggested you can often get a mantis to take a pre-killed insect if you let them get a taste of the gooey insides first. While I generally prefer my mantises to hunt their own prey as you said sometimes it's necessary to tear it into pieces if you don't have anything else appropriately sized.


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## Mantis Lady (May 29, 2018)

Head and body can live seperate  for days?? I didn't know that. I had smashed the head of the roach when I took it's head off.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 29, 2018)

@Predatorhousepet That was a lot of information at one time! 

@Little Mantis That is why I never care about the roach, only the mantis!   

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (May 29, 2018)

i dont like needless suffering of prey, that is why I remove the head of insects like that if they needs to be shared  but breaking the head in the meantime. But I like to learn new things about mantids and their feeders.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 29, 2018)

Little Mantis said:


> i dont like needless suffering of prey, that is why I remove the head of insects like that if they needs to be shared  but breaking the head in the meantime. But I like to learn new things about mantids and their feeders.


I get it! 

- MantisGirl13


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## Predatorhousepet (May 30, 2018)

Little Mantis said:


> Head and body can live seperate  for days?? I didn't know that.


Yep, crazy huh. Not sure but I seem to recall that the main reason they die after beheading is due to dehydration. Like humans, they can only live a few days without water. They also routinely survive being microwaved for upwards of 10 minutes. There's a reason people joke that roaches will be the only life left in the evident of nuclear armageddon.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 30, 2018)

Predatorhousepet said:


> Yep, crazy huh. Not sure but I seem to recall that the main reason they die after beheading is due to dehydration. Like humans, they can only live a few days without water. They also routinely survive being microwaved for upwards of 10 minutes. There's a reason people joke that roaches will be the only life left in the evident of nuclear armageddon.


That is crazy! I don't know about them not being able to live without water because my roaches have survived for weeks at a time on nothing but a shriveled carrot.   

- MantisGirl13


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## River Dane (May 30, 2018)

@MantisGirl13 That carrot probably provided the moisture they need, even if it seemed dry and shriveled to us. Although you should be careful. The health of your feeders determines the health of your mantids.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 31, 2018)

@River Dane I know. I went to Mexico for a week on vacation, so that kinda distracted me. They have a fresher carrot now.   

- MantisGirl13


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## Predatorhousepet (May 31, 2018)

While roaches can survive with very little water and on any food source they would probably appreciate more than what a carrot can provide. Some people use potatoes or cucumbers for insects that would drown in a water dish or you can Cricket Quencher which is gel that holds many times its weight in water. Another alternative is to soak cotton balls in water and put them in a dish but this requires a lot of attention as it dries out fast and can get messy so the cotton needs to be changed regularly. There are a variety of roach diets on the market or you can find a recipe to make one at home. I make my own from baby cereal, fish food, bee pollen, brewer's yeast, and bran flakes. Since you are feeding these roaches to your mantis you want the roaches to be well fed and healthy so your mantis can benefit from their nutrients. There is something called "gut loading" where you feed the prey insect an extremely nutritious diet that is high in vitamins so that the mantis gets the benefit of whatever is leftover in their digestive tract.


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## MantisGirl13 (May 31, 2018)

Predatorhousepet said:


> While roaches can survive with very little water and on any food source they would probably appreciate more than what a carrot can provide. Some people use potatoes or cucumbers for insects that would drown in a water dish or you can Cricket Quencher which is gel that holds many times its weight in water. Another alternative is to soak cotton balls in water and put them in a dish but this requires a lot of attention as it dries out fast and can get messy so the cotton needs to be changed regularly. There are a variety of roach diets on the market or you can find a recipe to make one at home. I make my own from baby cereal, fish food, bee pollen, brewer's yeast, and bran flakes. Since you are feeding these roaches to your mantis you want the roaches to be well fed and healthy so your mantis can benefit from their nutrients. There is something called "gut loading" where you feed the prey insect an extremely nutritious diet that is high in vitamins so that the mantis gets the benefit of whatever is leftover in their digestive tract.


Ok! Good to know! I will definitely look into getting better food for my roaches. Thanks!

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantis Lady (Jun 1, 2018)

My roaches gets cricketfood, salad leaves or other fresh vegetables I have at the moment and aqua pearls for water.


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