# plant pest - mealy bug and whitefly as food



## Phantom (May 18, 2007)

I have some just hatched Giant Asian nymphs (thanks, Rick). I have some fruitflies for them, but what about feeding them mealy bugs and whiteflys? I have source of these from some infected plants. I have not used any insecticides or other chemicals on the plants yet.


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## AFK (May 20, 2007)

i'll be interested to hear other people's opinions on this!  

i know mealybugs can be VERY VERY waxy. i wonder if mantises would eat the wax or spit it out. if the latter, it would be hilarious to watch a mantis getting frustrated at the meticulous work needed just to eat a measly little meal worm lol.

i think whiteflies are waxy too, but it's been a while since i've seen a whitefly, but if they're waxy too, i don't think they're as waxy.

EDIT: also, mealybugs and whiteflies don't move very much. my guess is that they might move periodically, and just enough to catch a mantis's attention, but by the time the mantis starts closing in on them, they'd be sitting still again lol. i don't see how it would hurt though to just try and see what happens.


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## Phantom (May 20, 2007)

The mealy bugs are small, but they still do have the wooly, thread-like stuff surrounding them. The whitefly is still in the larva stage on the underside of a Jasmine plant leaf. It would appear that the nymphs are going after both of them.


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis (May 20, 2007)

Are 'mealy bugs' just meal worms? My chinese like halved mealworms, they eat the insides then drop the outer exoskeleton.. :x


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## Phantom (May 20, 2007)

Not meal-wrom. The Latin names are Ferrisia virgata, Phenacoccus solani, Planococcus citri, Pseudoccous longispinus.


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## AFK (May 21, 2007)

> The mealy bugs are small, but they still do have the wooly, thread-like stuff surrounding them. The whitefly is still in the larva stage on the underside of a Jasmine plant leaf. It would appear that the nymphs are going after both of them.


does the mantis eat the waxy secretions as well or does the mantis discard them?


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## Phantom (May 21, 2007)

They are very small right now, so it is difficult to tell. I have them on a flower stalk of a plant and the nymphs are right there. I have witnessed them eating some black aphids that I dropped in their tank yesterday.


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