# Lacewings for feeers??e



## lorriekay56 (Aug 27, 2005)

we were thinking oftrying lacewings for feeding our mantids. What can we do to help breeding proces of lacewings? Can I use something similar to the fruit fly Culture? I would appreciate ANY feedback!!


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## Reeves (Sep 1, 2005)

Lacewing larva (ant lions) require a diet of live insects. For that reason alone I wouldn't recommend that you culture them for food. Why would you want to feed live insects to feeder insects?

This time of year you can catch plenty of lacewings. My nymphs love them.


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## garbonzo13 (Sep 2, 2005)

:shock: , I never knew ant lions were larvae of something.


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## Reeves (Sep 2, 2005)

I think ant lions themselves make very interesting captives.


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## infinity (Sep 2, 2005)

only way i could see it working would be to have a large sandy area for the ant lions and have a formicurum nearby... as the name suggests they eat ants... but if the mantid is big enough to eat lacewings, you might as well feed it on ants! - people say that you shouldn't feed ants to a mantid but when the mantid is ore than an inch long, what can one ant do...


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## Ian (Sep 2, 2005)

I personally have fed lace wings to my mantids, although, I dont see them in the UK much at ALL now. Have never had any probs....

Cheers,

Ian


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## Jwonni (Sep 2, 2005)

ant lions look pretty cool but i have not seen em for sale in uk (are they native here?)

i would be keeping them to watch as oppose to make food for matids though


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## Ian (Sep 2, 2005)

I never even knew what an ant lion was let alone see one, lol

Cheers,

Ian


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## Jwonni (Sep 2, 2005)

well i didn't know its name but i had seen documentarys with them on

but to me an ant lion is one of the big things of half life (computer game)


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## Johnald Chaffinch (Sep 15, 2005)

i read they're called aphid lions, i guess they have a few titles. i've never seen a nymph but right now i have a few lacewings in my room. their cocoons are pretty cool, on long stems


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## Obie (Sep 16, 2005)

Lacewing larvae are similar to antlions except that they are smaller, and don't make pits. Their morphology is similar, but they feed on aphids, not ants and as Johnald mentioned are sometimes called aphid lions. A lot of beneficial insect suppliers sell lacewings.

You can buy true antlions here: http://www.antlionfarms.com/buy_antlions

They're pretty cool  

Obie


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