# Looking for a definitive answer on Empusidae and crickets as feeders



## hysteresis (Feb 19, 2019)

Wow. So much controversy surrounding this topic.

_Should_ empusids eat crickets, etc? Crawling/locomotion, timing of feeding them to the mantises, and gutload aside, please.

A solid technical answer would be appreciated!


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## MantisGirl13 (Feb 19, 2019)

It is definitely debated! I think that my conclusion is that crickets are never the best food source for mantids, but if they have been kept healthy, they can be used as emergency food for a time. I hope that helps! 

- MantisGirl13


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## hysteresis (Feb 19, 2019)

My guess is shifting. I just don't know how healthy cricket meat is bad. I bet cricket is a more nutritious source than flies. There are many more nutritious feeder insects than flies from what I've gathered so far.

You yourself has asked about dubias for gongys. If they go for the prey, that's enough, no?

Is it that a leaner feeder is better for empusids? Caterpillars like waxworms are fatty. Bad?

Just trying to collect facts.

*stirs the pot*


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## vyadha (Feb 20, 2019)

Can you harvest and culture your own flies when it warms up? 

I really doubt anyone has done a comprehensive study of feeding  empusids crickets vs flies.

If all you have access too is crickets, I’m sure the empusids would at least appreciate the offering of a cricket than offering nothing. 

The facts are out there, who knows if they’ve been definitively collected yet.


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## Introvertebrate (Feb 20, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> A solid technical answer would be appreciated!


Sorry.  We don’t do that here.  Just guesses.


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## Mantis Lady (Feb 20, 2019)

I have different feeders: FF for the small ones, little flies for the ghosts, the bigger ones I give dubia, or grasshoppers,   About crickets, I don't hear good stuff, so I try to avoid them.


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## hysteresis (Feb 20, 2019)

vyadha said:


> Can you harvest and culture your own flies when it warms up?
> 
> I really doubt anyone has done a comprehensive study of feeding  empusids crickets vs flies.
> 
> ...


I have BSFL in process. We'll see.


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## hysteresis (Feb 20, 2019)

Little Mantis said:


> I have different feeders: FF for the small ones, little flies for the ghosts, the bigger ones I give dubia, or grasshoppers,   About crickets, I don't hear good stuff, so I try to avoid them.


That's what in saying. We know crickets have the ability to damage a mantis. So I call that timing... not around molt time. Also, never really big. 

Also, some say empusids dont strike at crawling prey. My violins do somewhat chase after hydei. My thistle certainly stalks prey. So I dont know. That's locomotion.

Gutload is what they eat, and hygiene.

What I want to know is,  does cricket meat affect development, fertility, reproduction as in ooth development, etc. in empusids. 

Or is it a digestion issue under the higher temps they're kept in?


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## Mantis Lady (Feb 20, 2019)

hysteresis said:


> We know crickets have the ability to damage a mantis.


When I had them i fed them with tweezers, so I could see my mantids eating them. I never let the crickets roam in mantis homes.


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