Best species for Me?

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bl4ckgixxer600

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I've done a couple hours of research so far and have yet to really figure out which species I should go with, so I am hoping you guys can help me decide the best route. Hopefully I don't piss off anybody with my interest in mantids.

Heres the situation:

I am a chameleon and leo owner and would like to add mantids as a feeder insect to the menu. I would like to keep a breeding pair as pets because I do think their pretty cool, and then use the ooth hatchlings as feeders or sell. I have colonies of superworms, mealworms, dubia and crickets, occasionally I'll buy bbf's and other insects. I would like to use these as feeders for the mantids. Violins eat flying insects so they're out. If at all possible I would like a species that does not absolutely require me setting up another basking light. I live in a small dorm apartment and have already exhausted all power outlets, shelf space and simply dont want another light cluttering up my space/eye soar. Currently/usually the ambient room temp is 82f, sometimes much higher, especially during the upcoming summer months. I want to use an enclosure equal to 5gal or smaller, the smaller the better. If I have a breeding pair that means I’m going to need 2 enclosures and then something for the ooths. Again, space is a problem. I feel like I'm missing some things but I'm drawing a blank. Hopefully theres something out there that will best suite my needs. Thanks in advance for all helpful responses.

 
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why would you use them as feeders as there is fruit flies,crickets,roaches or flies and other insects that would be perfect as feeders and using a mantis as feeders just would not be very logical and yes I have used them in the passed as feeders but not anymore and the best species to try out in my experience could be any of the creobroter species or lineolas,shields or limbatas or even chinese and europeans!

 
Why feed them lovable mantids? What can you gain? Just keep feeding your lizards well nourished crickets..

I'd never feed my bearded dragon a mantis. Not very logical

 
Not sure I follow the logic on mantises as feeders since you will have to feed them feeders. Seems like it would be faster and easier to cut out the middleman or should I say middle mantis and go straight to the source. You also aren't going to really be able to gut load a mantis and you will be loosing a lot of what you put into fruit flies/crickets/roaches you are feeding to the mantises. The Chinese are cheep, produce high yielding ooths, and are easy to keep but they are also highly cannibalistic meaning you are going to need a separate cage for each one you plan to raise up to reach a decent worthwhile feeding size.

 
I wouldn't recommend raising praying mantises as feeder insects. They take months to reach adult hood, and can be very expensive to raise. I would recommend buying some cheap chinese ootheca, wait until they hatch and feed your pets with the newly hatched nymphs as a treat. You should probably stick to other feeder insects as their main source of food.

 
OK, so now you see we don't like the idea of using our pets as food, but that's ok, cause we are a kind hearted group! :) We did hesitate to tell you though, that we all breed chameleon and use their babies for our adult female mantis to eat, they do so love em! :lol:

NOT!

Sorry, couldn't help myself! :tt2:

 
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hibiscusmile said:
OK, so now you see we don't like the idea of using our pets as food, but that's ok, cause we are a kind hearted group! :) We did hesitate to tell you though, that we all breed chameleon and use their babies for our adult female mantis to eat, they do so love em! :lol:

NOT!

Sorry, couldn't help myself! :tt2:
Click to expand...
hahahaha

Harry

 
Theres method behind my madness I swear. Feeding the mantids wont be an issue. I have 4 very large colonies, I frequently have to sell or get rid of alot of bugs in order to keep numbers down. If I keep fruit in the bins for to long they get FULL of fruitflys, bingo bango free food for nymphs. I would like to keep a pair as pets, I have a nice little spot already picked out for them. I have no room or desire to raise hundreds/thousands of other mantids, probably keep a pair as successors from the first ooth. Keeping them would help control my colonies, make great treats for Syd, and the left overs I can sell or give away. Popa Spurca are native to Madagascar and a popular/common food item of chams, it'd be like giving him a taste from home.

 
iLikeMantids said:
Theres method behind my madness I swear. Feeding the mantids wont be an issue. I have 4 very large colonies, I frequently have to sell or get rid of alot of bugs in order to keep numbers down. If I keep fruit in the bins for to long they get FULL of fruitflys, bingo bango free food for nymphs. I would like to keep a pair as pets, I have a nice little spot already picked out for them. I have no room or desire to raise hundreds/thousands of other mantids, probably keep a pair as successors from the first ooth. Keeping them would help control my colonies, make great treats for Syd, and the left overs I can sell or give away. Popa Spurca are native to Madagascar and a popular/common food item of chams, it'd be like giving him a taste from home.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you have enough feeder insects to feed manteses. I'd go for it. I'm not sure on the hatch rate on Popa Spurca wether its dozens or hundreds, but I would go for it.

 
iLikeMantids said:
Theres method behind my madness I swear. Feeding the mantids wont be an issue. I have 4 very large colonies, I frequently have to sell or get rid of alot of bugs in order to keep numbers down. If I keep fruit in the bins for to long they get FULL of fruitflys, bingo bango free food for nymphs. I would like to keep a pair as pets, I have a nice little spot already picked out for them. I have no room or desire to raise hundreds/thousands of other mantids, probably keep a pair as successors from the first ooth. Keeping them would help control my colonies, make great treats for Syd, and the left overs I can sell or give away. Popa Spurca are native to Madagascar and a popular/common food item of chams, it'd be like giving him a taste from home.
Click to expand...
Seems like you got it figured out. Just not such a good reward for the mantis after helping you.

 
I vote "no", yes, it's with my heart, but none-the-less, it's a "no".... if there was a vote.

 
Unless you are feeding l1-l2 nymphs, you are going to have to get houseflies/crix before the mantids would be much good for food, and you have to go through the daily "chore" of caring for them. It would be rather like feeding tigers to the carnivores at a zoo. Also, you will have to change yr name from "ILikeMantids" to "IMurderMantids".

I have lit a candle with your user name and social security number on it and have placed it in front of the shrine to the Great Mantis Goddess (BBHN). I hope that she will be able to turn you back to the path of righteousness; If not, she should have no trouble tracking you down.

 
ok, here is my 2 cents as a chameleon keeper myself.

Ghosts for example come from Madagascar and central Africa from Cameroon to Somalia, so they also make the perfect "natural" feeder for many of your chameleons. you know, something that they would naturally find in nature to eat.

with that said, they have a small hatch rate with their ooths. so are not always practical to feed off unless you are swamped with babies. or just want to use as a once in a blue moon snack.

I personally just fed off the last of my chinese L3 nymphs to some of my smaller chameleons. unpractical? not at all. I feed my crickets far more money in gutload or food. a $15 batch of crickets will eat about $15-$20 worth of food over the same amount of time. so fruitflys don't seem quite as expencive when you look at it that way.

too long before you can use? try getting a dubia colony going. so a few weeks to a few months before you have a good snack to use is nothing in my book. I even kept them all together in the same enclosure with little to no canibalisim due to them always having plenty of food.

but they are cute little mantids. true.

but no one seems to mind if another mantid eats a mantid, so why not use them as feeders? circle of life and all that jazz.

while I do think that this is the wrong forum to be asking such questions, it's not unnatural or impractical to feed some mantids to your chameleon(s).

Harry

 
I don't know what stage of the mantid you're going to use as feeders. If you plan on raising mantids to adulthood and then using them as feeders, all I have to say to you is good luck. With your intentional raising and use of adult mantids as feeders, I'm pretty sure you'll end up quitting at round one because getting mantids to adulthood with the intention as feeders is not an easy task. The time, energy, and money you put forth getting a mantid to adulthood is high. Even if you do succeed, you'll only get a few adults from the hundreds that may hatch (mass producing mantids is tough). You can do what you wish if you have that kind of time, but the way I see it, it's a total waste of energy put forth.

 

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