Mantis feeder bottles

Hi guys... I wanted to share with you a feeding bottle I have been working on.. It is still in its prototype stage..
I am extremely excited how it works for me... and would love to find out what others think about it?

I wanted to share it with the people who understand the feeding process... My family don't understand my excitement of this bottle, I developed.. and just kind of snicker at me.

I wanted to show it to you, and get your feedback... I also have a few made up... Just in case any of you wanted to try it out... for more of an up close & personal trail.

Right now I am calling it my friendly feeder??? Maybe some brain storming we could come up with something clever...
If it works out I would like to try and make these up in bulk... I would also like to find an easier & cleaner way to add the screen...Eventually, I would like to get it molded to have the screened area as part of the bottle.. if the demand is big enough.
Here are some pics of my feeding bottle...









That is it...

The reason I put in the screen is for air circulation, and I can also spray a little water in the container to keep the feeder food hydrated... I also added 2 or 3 fly waiting wheels..I developed this mainly for crickets, so it would stop them from munching on each other while waiting to be put into the mantis container. I then tried it with the fruit flies to stop them from circling the bottle in record time, I noticed when I added the waiting wheels in... there was a lot less die off the next morning, after leaving them in there overnight.. I also can keep flies in there for a couple of days... For the mantis who are molting, I can feed them later in the day or even the next day. I do not have to go through refilling the bottle daily. You are also able to add as many flies as you want to each container at a time, and it is no problem to add an extra fly later if needed. It also helps with handling the flies, there is less chance of them flying out of container, you trying to catch them, to put them into the container, or catching them after they get free in the house. It saves a lot of time with that... I don't know how many times I have had 1/2 an hour of so trying to catch or kill the flies that I have been freed accidentally.

I also have put together 2 feeding video's to give you an idea of how easy it is to use. And how you can change your feeding time in half the time, it takes you to open and close all your containers.

http://youtu.be/UeBZWHB-SH8

Like I said before I have some extra made up for a low introductory (trial) price & shipping...Anyone interested in trying one out pm me, I would be happy to send one to you and find out what you think after trying it.. comment on how much time & work this bottle truly eliminates...

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read all this..(people who know me, know I tend to be a little wordy)
Thanks again, Denise

This is an awesome idea!!!

I was told the video was not working... now I can't find the video's at all?

Good idea thanks for sharing Denise. I know it works well after making one when I talked to you.

dmina said:

I was told the video was not working... now I can't find the video's at all?

Click to expand...

Strange they are not in your youtube account channel? The videos are loading fine for me now.

I'd put the fly entrance at the bottom of the Mantis enclosure, so you don't have to turn the feeding bottle upside down. I'm sure you've noticed that flies (and most other insects) instinctively climb upwards.

cool idea... but I have tried letting them go up naturally... and they do not do it... I have tried to refill bottles that way.. I hope it works for you... I would be interested in your results.

How 'bout with a little persuasion, like you're doing? I figured it would be easier to coax the flies up than down. Flies are also attracted to light, so you could darken everything put the tip. With a transparent bottle, the flies think they could potentially escape in any direction.

I have tested Denise's Friendly Feeder bottle and it greatly reduces the time it takes me to feed my nymphs as I can squeeze the bottle and the flies fall into the cups through my feeder holes. I no longer have to lift the lid on my culture and shake a few flies into each cup. My banded flower mantis Mulan can even hang out on the tip and grab any that try to escape when the tip isnt stopped up but the flies dont seem to crawl up as was previously mentioned in this thread. I would call them rapid feeder bottles or fast feeder bottles as the d hydei flies can be squeezed into my nymph cups very quickly.

That's a really clever feeding bottle! What a great idea Dmina! While my terrarium is empty I was trying to think of an easier way of feeding newly hatched nymphs without having to take the top off the enclosure and loose any little babies due to escape. I'd created a "feeding port" where I expected to drop in a funnel and shake in some wingless fruit flies, but your bottle idea is really great, and I think it will help make feeding much easier for so many people. Thank you very much for sharing that!

Thank you so much... I am glad you like it... I got so tired of trying to catch all the escaped fruit flies... this made it so much easier on the both of us...LOL

This works very well . :clap: Smart thinking!

Thank you... I am glad it works for you...

I ordered 2 of these, and I am amazed at the time it saves, and the ease of use. I've used them for blue bottle flies and fruit flies. Thanks for this great little tool!

This looks like a great idea but how do you get the flies, especially BB flies into the bottle? I see you use a funnel but why don't the flies get away at that point? Maybe I just don't hatch the pupae in the proper container? (I have them in a small critter keeper and I have to put them in the fridge just to get a couple out---obviously not smart. If I up-ended the critter keeper into the funnel, all the unhatched pupae, the fly food, the water crystals, just everything would fall into the funnel.)

I guess I need a lesson on the best way to hatch the pupae? Can you tell me how you handle that part so it is then easy to get the flies into the funnel and bottle? Do you put the pupae in your bottle and let them hatch there?

Your answers have helped me so many previous times and I know that as one grandma to another you're going to give me an "aha" moment!

Thanks, Nancy

I hatch my flies in a large deli cup... the flies seem to go to the top of the container, then I just swipe them into the funnel... You need to put the flies in the refrigerator to slow them down first... the funnel seems to confuse them a bit.. so they don't figure out how to go up the small hole for a while.

Hope that helps..

That all makes sense. I'll certainly try that next batch.

Thanks so much,

Nancy

You are welcome...

I like to order two of these, I PM you but did not reply

look up a tool called a "pooter" on the net it is another great tool when feeding fruit flies to your mantids!!