# Crickets



## Fishboy (Jun 6, 2008)

What is a good size of crickets that i can feed to baby praying mantises?

I think pinheads would be to small (i dont even know how small they are) but will 1/4 or 1/8 crickets do?

I know, a lot of people recommend fruit flies but my friend gave me his one female mantis and her egg sac to take care of for the summer because hes gone vacationing and my mom will not have any type of fly in the house.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks!


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## Rick (Jun 6, 2008)

Depends on what size the mantids are. I've seen pinheads too big for L1 mantids. Most use fruit flies for small mantids which is what I think works the best.


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## Fishboy (Jun 6, 2008)

Well, he said that when he bought his, all he bought was an egg sac of mantids (I know they are native to FL if that helps) and he said that he fed them pinheads. So, this is the 2nd generation, the male and female that made the egg sac i have now was from his starting egg sac.

I will try to get pictures of them tonight/tomorrow.

I put a cricket in with the female mantis but she is just ignoring it. Maybe she is just full.

Thanks for the help


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## Rick (Jun 7, 2008)

You can use pinheads but be advised crickets tend to stay down low at the bottom and most of the nymphs will be at the top. Fruit flies are the better option in this case. If you use the pinheads make sure they have something to crawl up to the top.


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## Fishboy (Jun 10, 2008)

Ok, thanks for the help  

Can you help me organise how i will set and put everything in?

I have 4 different containers here:

1 net container thing with the female mantis and her egg sac:







Two of these containers, one of them has crickets in it for the female, the other is empty






1 10 gallon tank






Only the 10 gallon tank is mine, the others is what my friend gave me.

Any suggestions on what to put each animal in? Like the female in here, nymphs here, crickets etc...

Thanks!


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