If you could share that system with all of us I think that would be great
I will be gone for a two week vacation soon and would like to know how you do it.
It's helpful if you still have someone spray the appropriate mantises now and then.As for feeding mantises that eat bb flies, I buy bb larvae (aka "spikes" not pupae) a few weeks ahead of time and put them in the refrigerator. They usually take 7 - 9 days to eclose. So, about 8 days before I leave, I take the appropriate number of flies needed for each mantis and put them in a container on the counter to allow them to develop. Within a day or two they usually are in the pupae stage. I take out larvae every day for a week and end up with 7 containers full of pupae. Then the day before I leave, I drop the appropriate # pupae into each enclosure (e.g., my female b mendica each get 3 bb pupae each day. For a one week trip, they would have 21 pupae). In theory some bb flies should hatch every day. For extended trips that last 10 - 12 days, I take out extra larvae on the last day.
I actually tested this in advance before one of my trips, and it has worked pretty well except that a few of the pupae that were under heat lamps did not eclose. It's better than just dumping in a bunch of pupae that were all removed at the same time because then too many hatch at the same time. If you do that, your mantis may eat too much or get bothered by excessive flies. Also, the ones that aren't eaten will just die. Now when I go on a trip, I adjust the air conditioner in the summer so that it's a little warmer in the house, and I turn off all of the heat lamps that I use for the mantises but leave on the ones for the turtles. I also have some plastic enclosures on heat mats, and I ensure the flies are not directly on the heat mat.
I take a few additional steps for older nymphs/pre/sub adults living together in net enclosures which involves adding extra pupae and a food source for the flies. It keeps them alive longer, and they aren't pestering the mantises when they are in the container with the food.
I travelled a lot the past 15 months, and have only lost a couple of adults while I was away, though I did have a few mismolts when I was in Colorado in June. Just bad timing...
Again, it really helps if you can have someone spray your mantises that need extra humidity or may molt while you are away.
The method for feeding smaller nymphs has probably been discussed on the forum before. You may also want to search for "vacation" and see if others have ideas.
Send me a pm if you have questions.