Alternative food

[idolomantis]

I'm wondering if there is any alternative food for larger mantis spieces such as hierodula, sphodromantis and rhombodera..

I don't want to use crickets as i can say with all my hearth: i friggen' hate them!

We had about 200 running loose trough my house and we still found them 3 weeks later.

Locust isn't an option as they are way to expensive for me.

€5 for a tub of 10 <_<

What is another option?

Dubia's or lobster roaches?

Or could they live on a heck of a lot of bluebottles?

I could try to get some wax moths to adult.

What are the options?

 

[bassist]

If you don't like crickets you won't like locusts, best bet would be roaches I'd say lobster because from what I've read they're really easy to breed and maintain.

 

[ismart]

I would go with dubia's and or lobster roaches as an alternative to crckets. i would also keep blue bottle flies as a food source as well.

 

[Rick]

Would have to be roaches. No way are you going to support adult females of these on flies.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Yes, for me at least, roaches are the way to go. Be warned, though. To keep your colony self sustaining, you need at least 500 to 1,000 (I keep lobsters) and not touch them for at least three months, with plenty of warmth, moisture and food. There is a huge temptation (at least for me!) to dip into the breeding stock once you see how most mantids enjoy them If you feed five mantids two roaches a day, you are going to use 300 a month, so you might want to get another 1,000 as feeders for the first three months. This should give you a few left over to "accidentally" escape into your sister's room and make her scream

 

[The_Asa]

I don't keep very many mantids so set up time isn't as important. The lobsters keep reproducing so even as I'm feeding off they reproduce. Keeping 200-300 roaches is enough for my 3 adults at the moment.