# Aphids



## Morpheus uk (Oct 30, 2007)

Are they alright to feed to my newly ahtched nymphs? they are the same size as fruit flies


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## Morpheus uk (Oct 30, 2007)

Anyone?

Theres not a problem with aphids anyway is there?


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## joossa (Oct 30, 2007)

I don't see how they would be a problem. Maybe they're lack of movement (they are sedentary) won't attract he attention of the nymphs so well.

Try it and tell us how it goes...


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## jfmantis (Oct 30, 2007)

Some mantis enthusiast friends of mine had a bunch of tiny little (&lt;1 cm long) _Stagmomatis californica_ nymphs and I tried to feed them aphids. But the aphids' sticky goo got the litttle mantises all tangled up. It stuck to their mouthparts, and arms, and I don't think they survived. Also, aphids feed off plant juices of living plants and they might die pretty fast in a cage. If you manage to solve that problem, with live plants or something, then aphids reproduce incredibly fast and you may soon have and aphid 'problem' in your cage. But, I may not be remembering correctly, and also, I was super amateur at mantises then. But you may be able to either clean them off, or devise some method of preventing this in the first place. Even better, you may not even have this problem at all.


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## Morpheus uk (Oct 31, 2007)

They seem to be alright, ate them all the moment i put them in there, it should be safe to feed though wouldnt it?

They seem to be fine


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## Kruszakus (Oct 31, 2007)

I had some experience in using Aphids as a food source - I have two Adpid colonies that provide plenty of these little bugs.

Mantids seem to be very eager to hunt them, but due to their sluggish movement, it takes some time, or a really hungry mantid to catch them.

Plus - Drop only as much as mantid can eat within a short time-span - Aphids live longer without any food source than fruit fies (sometimes even four days), they will probably molt inside the container - mantids can be tangled in the old carapace and remains.


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## Morpheus uk (Oct 31, 2007)

Think i`ll use aphids for the ghosts and flies for the eucho`s then


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## Sparky (Oct 31, 2007)

Don't mantids eat aphids in the wild anyway? I mean I'm sure that when a nymph finds an aphid in the wild, it doesn't give up the opportunity to catch it.

They are almost the most harmless thing on Earth, besides damaging plants, they can't hurt anything else.


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## Morpheus uk (Nov 3, 2007)

Chucked in a bunch of fruit flies in for the eucho`s and they got ate straight away, if the aphids are took away from food they run around beserk, usally straight into some nymph, i`d say theyed be a perfect substitute for fruit flies


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