stopped eating house flies, still eating fruit flies

wuwu · Jul 24, 2013

i have some L2 lobatas that have stopped eating houseflies even though their stomachs are no where near full. it looks like they've eaten 1 housefly. so i threw in some hydei in there to test and they started eating them. why would a mantis that's no where full stop going after certain prey? a housefly for a L2 lobata is not even that big of a meal.

aNisip · Jul 24, 2013

Maybe their just a little too afraid of the hsf? And reverting after the ff. I mean they would probably feel 'safer' for them to go after the smaller ff and have ample supply than risk a hsf?

Cheers,

Andrew

happy1892 · Jul 24, 2013

Houselfies are small for L2 nymphs. Have they molted recently?

ScienceGirl · Jul 24, 2013

I agree with AndrewNisip. Younger mantids especially feel more comfortable hunting smaller prey. They know they can do it, and there's less chance of the smaller prey snapping off their limbs (even though flies can't do that). Try using smaller flies, or your largest fruitflies.

wuwu · Jul 24, 2013

but they've already ate houseflies already so they're def not afraid. i'm just puzzled as to why they're no longer eating them even though their stomachs look only about a third full.

happy1892 said:
Houselfies are small for L2 nymphs. Have they molted recently?

no, they molted over a week ago.

Termite48 · Jul 24, 2013

Don't you ever get tired of a certain food item. The fruit flies are a little like popcorn to them and some even larger nymphs can "top off" with fruit flies. I believe that the term "topping off" is borrowed from either Mark or Henry.

ShieldMantid1997 · Jul 24, 2013

Rich S said:
Don't you ever get tired of a certain food item. The fruit flies are a little like popcorn to them and some even larger nymphs can "top off" with fruit flies. I believe that the term "topping off" is borrowed from either Mark or Henry.

Agreed, I know my mantids go crazy for the odd food item like a grasshopper or moth.

ScienceGirl · Jul 24, 2013

Rich S said:
Don't you ever get tired of a certain food item. The fruit flies are a little like popcorn to them and some even larger nymphs can "top off" with fruit flies. I believe that the term "topping off" is borrowed from either Mark or Henry.

Way to make feeding live, squirming (probably screaming little insect profanities, too) insects to mantids sound like a culinary adventure!

Sticky · Jul 25, 2013

Maybe they are boring? Try moths and other things from outside.

stopped eating house flies, still eating fruit flies

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