# greenbottles



## nympho (Jul 27, 2006)

hi

are newly hatched h. membrecana nymphs big/strong enough to takle greenbottles; after all these are very large mantids and presumably quite big at L1 compared to other types. greenbottles are small/medium sized flies, quite abit bigger and bulkier than fruit flies but alot smaller than bluebottles. reason i ask is you can get a 'pint' of gb maggots for £2.50 ish and its alot easier than rearing those pesky fruit flies. id like to skip the fruit fly stage altogether if poss as they are a PITA.

if they cant take greenbottles at the hatchling stage, at what age could they tackle them? cheers


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## Johnald Chaffinch (Jul 27, 2006)

i've been wondering about this, i get a lot of them in my garden and would like to feed them to my mantids. i'm cautious about it because i often see them on poo  

i've fed them to my nymphs anyway and they've been fine. dunno about newly hatched ones tho, maybe try catching one first before you buy


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## Justin (Jul 28, 2006)

This has probably been asked many times, but how do you raise the maggots may I ask? Also what is the time from maggot to fly?


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## nympho (Jul 28, 2006)

hi

you dont raise them, thats the good part. when you buy them from a fishing shop they are ready to pupate and these hatch into flies in about a week. they are about 5 or 6 mm long, which im guessing is about the same length as baby mantids (im guessing cos ive never seen baby mantids). i do know that when little these mantids dont hesitate in tackelling prey there own size or bigger.

ive never heard of any health problems with feeding them wild flies. in any case the bought ones will never have had a chance to eat poo :lol:


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## nympho (Jul 28, 2006)

so does anyone know ?


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## Justin (Jul 28, 2006)

I'd say they were a little big to be honest. Perhaps try the large species of fruit fly D. hydei which can be purchased at www.dartfrog.co.uk


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