cleaner beetles

[skinnylegs]

if you use bark as a substrate and have a few mealworms handy let them pupate and turn into beetles and drop them in.They eat any discarded food parts.and if you run out food the mantis will eat them.Try it.youll never have to clean youre mantids cage again(well,you probably will,but it helps )

 

[captainmerkin]

one of those things killed one of my fire bellied toads a few years ago

 

[Ian]

I usually have these in with my crickets when I purchase them.

They do a good job, but are VERY tough, and not the nicest of all feeder insects.

 

[skinnylegs]

yeah its best only to use them with a tree dwelling mantis,one that rarely ever touches the ground :? this sounds preety mean but its really fun to fry 'em with a magnefying glass if you have them in the surplus :twisted:

 

[Evil_Berzerker]

I usually have these in with my crickets when I purchase them.quote]hmm i just noticed a worm/maggot thing in my box of crickets but it doesnt look liek a mealwork its about 10-15mm long and is a bit hairy with 6 legs at the head end, any ideas what it is?

 

[Way.Of.The.Mantis]

So how big do these cleaner beetles grow?

 

[Ben.M]

2-3cm long, i hav them in with my h.mems

 

[Rick]

I've fed them to mantids before.

 

[skinnylegs]

hmm i just noticed a worm/maggot thing in my box of crickets but it doesnt look liek a mealwork its about 10-15mm long and is a bit hairy with 6 legs at the head end, any ideas what it is?

yeah i got these wit my cricets too.i think they turn into little beetles.i think they are colarado bettels?

 

[Ben.M]

No, they are flesh eating beetles(Dermestid beetles )

 

[Way.Of.The.Mantis]

are they good or bad? do they clean up any mess or are they just another snack for the mantids?

 

[Evil_Berzerker]

i watched it chase acricket around hte box and later i saw it, what looked to me, eating one

 

[jfmantis]

Another thing you could try are compost bugs. If you take a scoop of compost, and take all the bigger insects out of it, chances are, you'll see some little tiny whitish bugs. Originally i had them in my cage for nymph food, but the mantises didn't like them. I couldn't take them out, and they didn't do any harm, so I left them in. Now, everytime a fruitfly dies, before it gets moldy (i'm guessing the mold isn't good for the mantises), the little white bugs go and eat it all up, saving me the trouble of taking the fruitfly out. :idea:

edit: The white bugs are usually almost a millimeter long, sometimes less, sometimes more. Also, I've tried to figure out what species it is, to no avail.