# Favourite Food?



## blitzmantis (Nov 11, 2008)

Hey all,

since I'm gonna be getting some more mantids I wanna know what the best food to feed them is? What food do u think mantids seem to enjoy/want the most? When I get some more mantids I wanna spoil them once in a while with their favourite meal  so y'know...post anyway!

(Grand Return)


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## mrblue (Nov 11, 2008)

i dont think its possible for them them to have/express a preference, they will eat most things of appropriate size. you might find fast, fluttery/skittery things catch their attention more than something slow and lethargic, though if its hungry enough it will go for anything. i dont think theres one "best food" either, the best you can feed them is a variety i think.


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## The_Asa (Nov 11, 2008)

Roaches seem to be the most nutritious with least indigestible chitin. I would switch up their diet with flies, roaches, occasional crickets, and things caught outside, such as moths.


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## shorty (Nov 24, 2008)

-Asa said:


> Roaches seem to be the most nutritious with least indigestible chitin. I would switch up their diet with flies, roaches, occasional crickets, and things caught outside, such as moths.


What types of roaches are good for smaller/younger mantids? Like, for example, L4 giant asians? I looked into it on a few websites and there was such a huge variety of roaches to choose from I couldn't really find the appropriate species. Do you think it would be best to get a species that climbs being that I use a sphagnum moss substrate? Any suggestions/help much appreciated!


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## The_Asa (Nov 24, 2008)

shorty said:


> What types of roaches are good for smaller/younger mantids? Like, for example, L4 giant asians? I looked into it on a few websites and there was such a huge variety of roaches to choose from I couldn't really find the appropriate species. Do you think it would be best to get a species that climbs being that I use a sphagnum moss substrate? Any suggestions/help much appreciated!


I'm no roach expert, but I got the Lobster roaches or _Nauphoeta cinerea_ because they do climb, not burrowing in the substrate, their size (if you buy them mixed sizes) is appropriate for nearly any aged mantis, and they breed easily with sufficient heat. You can google search on them for some care sheets and supplies. Beats buying flies and crickets :lol:


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## PhilinYuma (Nov 25, 2008)

What types of roaches are good for smaller/younger mantids?

Blatta lateralis is another good old standby; they don't climb and they don't dig. There's a great, multipage care sheet for them on reptileguide.com, but he makes the housing much more complicated than I ever have. If you have more than just a couple of mantises, though, you need to start off with several hundred or you'll use up all your breeding stock before the the colony gets established.

Raising houseflies in a 5 gallon bucket is also lots of fun!!

I think that there is a current advert for roaches on this forum under breeders.


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## Rick (Nov 25, 2008)

I feed crickets and flies. During the summer I feed what I can find outside as well.


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## Christian (Nov 25, 2008)

My favorite mantid food are firebrats (_Thermobia domestica_) and flies. Larger specimens get roaches and Locusta. During summer, I add moths from a light trap.


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## hibiscusmile (Nov 25, 2008)

Mine do not all like the same thing, the Peacock does not seem to like crickets, the ghost love them, the orchids prefer moths and wasps, while the boxers go for house flies, so hard to tell with some of them. Don't know if they like roaches, cause they never seen em!


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## Anleoflippy (Dec 25, 2008)

My mantis seems to enjoy eating Damselflies...

Try feeding Damselflies to your mantis...


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## Christian (Dec 25, 2008)

In many countries dragonflies are protected. So, at least in Europe, they would be an illegal food choice.


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## Kruszakus (Dec 25, 2008)

Dragonflies? Dude - these are fascinating insects!

Feed your mantids "mantis fodder" - waxmoths, flies - the easiest to obtain/breed, not the most benevolent ones. In Europe so many insects are protected, that going to the woods to get some free food will most likely result in breaking the law, no need to be an ignoramus here - just go along with the standard food.


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## Anleoflippy (Dec 25, 2008)

Did I say Dragonflies...???

How stupid I am...

I meant to say Damselfly...

Well Dragonflies and Damselflies are almost the same...

Edited my post... ^_^


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## Orin (Dec 27, 2008)

Depending on your caging, I second lobster roaches as a great food.

Are any dragonflies protected in Malaysia?


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## Peter Clausen (Dec 28, 2008)

I prefer _Blaptica dubia_ as feeders for mantises because they can't climb glass and they are slow and play dead for the first few seconds you drop them in the mantis cage. I directly hand feed roaches to older or adult mantises (via forceps). _B. lateralis_ are my 2nd favorite mantis feeder because they are very active and draw a lot of attention (also non-climbing). Using the forceps method, they are actually the easiest to catch by a single leg with the forceps and they wiggle like crazy! Lobsters (_N. cinerea_) are my third favorite. They are glass-climbing, but since I have substrate and paper towel in many of my enclosures their habits towards hiding make them a little difficult if the mantis doesn't immediately grab them from my forceps.

Note: I don't typically feed roaches to young mantises. Fruit flies and flies are my preference there.

Roachforum.com (sister site) is a good place to ask questions about roaches.


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## nasty bugger (Dec 29, 2008)

What does anyone know about mantis' eating worms, specifically red wriggler earthworms?

I do what I can to help the dragonfly population since they eat mosquitoes, and thus deal with the nile virus thing that was supposed to be an issue a couple years back, plus I hate being bitten/stung/pierced by mosquitoes B) 

I had an opportunity to buy a bug catcher that has a light to attract the flying insects and then a fan that blows them into a container, but that was before I was into the hobby. Wish I'd known, or had listened to my instinct. I shoulda known when I kept thinking about it. I was thinking about it for putting on a float and using it for night fishing to attact fish and fish food  

I'm new, so all I've used to feed my 3 week old ootheca hatched mantis' is fruit flies and pinhead crickets, so far.

I live in a part of town, old part of town, where roaches can be a problem, but I sprayed well when I moved my office here about 3 months back. I still see an occasional roach, maybe one or two a month, so I would imagine with the roaches trying to find heat, and my neighbor underneath having left, that they'll try moving into his apartment, and eventually migrate up to mine through the walls. When they do they will be mantis chow. I don't plan to be at this location much longer anyway.

I was planning on letting some of the mantis' roam freely in my place when they get large enough.

If they catch an occasional earthworm, from my earthworm bin in the spare bedroom, I won't mind, as long as they don't go killing them off just to kill something.

I plan to talk to the mantis guy at the reptile center in Mesa, but everytime I go there he's off for that day, or just went home.

I have an old hippy buddy across town who's son catches them wild and raises them, then puts them in the yard and keeps them outside as pets, so I'll have to pick his brain, but I'm sure he'll just say they take care of themselves. That's what most hippies would say. I'm kinda still a hippy, but too materialistic to be considered one though. Trying to get back to that serendipity though


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