Can you feed mantids ants?

[Frogki]

Title says it all, can I feed my nymphs small ghost ants or are they too acidic...? (ps, if mods would prefer, they can move to my former thread with my nymph questions)

 

[PhilinYuma]

All ants that leave a formic acid trail are "too acidic". Harvester ants do not use acid as a marker, but they are ferocious and have little food value, so only a seriously hungry mantis will eat one. Think about it. If a mantis liked eating ants, he could simply park outside an ants' nest and eat all day long!

 

[Rick]

I've been told that the grizzled bark mantis eats ants in the wild. I haven't tried it yet though.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Don't really see what benefit it would do you Rick (I haven't tried it yet though) to try sitting on a tree stump eating ants! haha gottcha! :tt2:

Also ants are able to eat many things much bigger than they are, they would tend to be dangerous to a mantis I would think.

 

[Frogki]

Don't really see what benefit it would do you Rick (I haven't tried it yet though) to try sitting on a tree stump eating ants! haha gottcha! :tt2:

Also ants are able to eat many things much bigger than they are, they would tend to be dangerous to a mantis I would think.

I was thinking about just capturing one, because I do know that they can hunt a mantis if there are too many of them... But thank you, I guess that answers my question... I'm just having a it of trouble finding food supplies for them, and I can't go out to Petco (or anywhere else) as I please...

 

[z3ls0]

temporarily you can use collembola or plant louse, if you can´t buy or produce fly of the fruit

 

[hibiscusmile]

Plant louse, good idea!

 

[Frogki]

Plant louse, good idea!

Well I'd have to find them first, and I do have a ton of plants outside, but my dad keeps them up well, the only problem we've ever had has been with aphids... Where is the best place to find plant louse, in densely concentrated areas of plants?

 

[z3ls0]

Some plants attract them more than others (the roses for example), but you have a lot of care of that they are not disinfected with pesticides or the mantids will die.