Could one raise a mantis purely through hand feeding?

[TheWolven]

well, @hierodula is far more a mantis scientist than I am. I dabble in them with my insect nutrition work but the majority of my publications are on the Lepidoptera
this summer I'll be doing botany field work too!

Makes sense. WAIt BotaNy?!

 

[xxdreamchas3r913]

Thank you everyone for being so thoughtful and helpful with your responses. Thank you @agent A for your insight into mantis nutrition and thank you @The Wolven for your honesty. Un/fortunately, I have not checked the forum since my last reply and went ahead and bought an H. membranacae since. Feeding has been difficult but possible but as I fed my mantis today I felt a deepening sense of guilt about the life I was forcing it to live. It was a self satisfying desire to own one and I considered my own desires over the mantis’ needs. I am going to have to do some soul searching over the next couple of days to decide what I can do, as I will either need to rehome it, or find my peace with feeding it live prey. I truly appreciate everyone’s support, understanding, and patience with me.

On another, more positive note, I also decided to purchase some hissers and feel good about keeping those. Made them a nice home and hoping to keep them for a long time!

Here’s some pics of my roaches, as well as some clips of me feeding my mantis today. It’s pretty labour intensive, as I need to continuously wiggle the string to emulate struggling prey to keep the mantis interested, else it drops the food (cut up piece of canned dubia). It really made me feel quite sad for it... It didn’t finish the piece, but ate right around where the string was attached, which I found interesting. It may have been coincidence, but I also wonder if it was focusing its attention on the area from where it felt the most movement.

 

[TheWolven]

Thank you everyone for being so thoughtful and helpful with your responses. Thank you @agent A for your insight into mantis nutrition and thank you @The Wolven for your honesty. Un/fortunately, I have not checked the forum since my last reply and went ahead and bought an H. membranacae since. Feeding has been difficult but possible but as I fed my mantis today I felt a deepening sense of guilt about the life I was forcing it to live. It was a self satisfying desire to own one and I considered my own desires over the mantis’ needs. I am going to have to do some soul searching over the next couple of days to decide what I can do, as I will either need to rehome it, or find my peace with feeding it live prey. I truly appreciate everyone’s support, understanding, and patience with me.

On another, more positive note, I also decided to purchase some hissers and feel good about keeping those. Made them a nice home and hoping to keep them for a long time!

Here’s some pics of my roaches, as well as some clips of me feeding my mantis today. It’s pretty labour intensive, as I need to continuously wiggle the string to emulate struggling prey to keep the mantis interested, else it drops the food (cut up piece of canned dubia). It really made me feel quite sad for it... It didn’t finish the piece, but ate right around where the string was attached, which I found interesting. It may have been coincidence, but I also wonder if it was focusing its attention on the area from where it felt the most movement.

No problem. Have you come to a decision?

 

[xxdreamchas3r913]

No problem. Have you come to a decision?

Yes, I will feed her live prey. I fed her a fly today that got into the house. I’m not sure if I am willing to go out to catch her food, or order feeders just yet but I’ll start by feeding her any suitable insects that find their way into the house on their own

 

[TheWolven]

Yes, I will feed her live prey. I fed her a fly today that got into the house. I’m not sure if I am willing to go out to catch her food, or order feeders just yet but I’ll start by feeding her any suitable insects that find their way into the house on their own

I personally recommend either RainbowMealworms or TheMantisPlace for feeders if you are in the US. I get my blue bottleflies and banded crickets from RBM. They’re great for people who only keep small collections.

I buy their 3/4 week 50 CT banded crickets (these are safe for mantises but you gotta gut load them and clean out their bin 1-2 a week) for only $3!

I’m gonna get back to you on what Rebecca since I haven’t used her as a feeder source for awhile. She is great for mantis supplies so I recommend checking her out! She’s got unique enclosures and feeder supplies you won’t find anywhere else.

 

[Ckowsky]

I personally recommend either RainbowMealworms or TheMantisPlace for feeders if you are in the US. I get my blue bottleflies and banded crickets from RBM. They’re great for people who only keep small collections.

I buy their 3/4 week 50 CT banded crickets (these are safe for mantises but you gotta gut load them and clean out their bin 1-2 a week) for only $3!

I’m gonna get back to you on what Rebecca since I haven’t used her as a feeder source for awhile. She is great for mantis supplies so I recommend checking her out! She’s got unique enclosures and feeder supplies you won’t find anywhere else.

I'll go ahead and plug Rebecca/TheMantisPlace as excellent for feeders, been using her when I needed fly pupae several times over the last few months.

In the future, and if you feel comfortable, another option is to culture your own dubia. I breed crested geckos so I always have a surplus, which I fortunately discovered my mantids love. Super simple, but likely not worth it if you only have 1 or a few predatory insects.

 

[Ckowsky]

Yes, I will feed her live prey. I fed her a fly today that got into the house. I’m not sure if I am willing to go out to catch her food, or order feeders just yet but I’ll start by feeding her any suitable insects that find their way into the house on their own

Also, super happy to see that you're pursuing live feeders; they truly are the best for our little guys

 

[happy1892]

Aaron Pauling will have a lot of Red runners available this summer probably. Red runners will live a long time and will breed without much maintenance.

https://www.aaronpauling.com/collections/non-climbing-roaches/products/1000-large-rusty-reds

 

[xxdreamchas3r913]

I personally recommend either RainbowMealworms or TheMantisPlace for feeders if you are in the US. I get my blue bottleflies and banded crickets from RBM. They’re great for people who only keep small collections.

I buy their 3/4 week 50 CT banded crickets (these are safe for mantises but you gotta gut load them and clean out their bin 1-2 a week) for only $3!

I’m gonna get back to you on what Rebecca since I haven’t used her as a feeder source for awhile. She is great for mantis supplies so I recommend checking her out! She’s got unique enclosures and feeder supplies you won’t find anywhere else.

I'll go ahead and plug Rebecca/TheMantisPlace as excellent for feeders, been using her when I needed fly pupae several times over the last few months.

In the future, and if you feel comfortable, another option is to culture your own dubia. I breed crested geckos so I always have a surplus, which I fortunately discovered my mantids love. Super simple, but likely not worth it if you only have 1 or a few predatory insects.

Aaron Pauling will have a lot of Red runners available this summer probably. Red runners will live a long time and will breed without much maintenance.

https://www.aaronpauling.com/collections/non-climbing-roaches/products/1000-large-rusty-reds

Thank you everyone for the resources! I will definitely check out TheMantisPlace. I went out and caught my girl a cricket last night, which was a big step for me. But I would definitely prefer to get her feeders vs catching wild insects.

 

[happy1892]

If you have just a few mantises you could get by without buying feeders by feeding them insects you catch outside. Fireflies are poisonous I have read so I would avoid those. You can catch moths at a porch light during the night to feed the mantis.

 

[TheWolven]

If you have just a few mantises you could get by without buying feeders by feeding them insects you catch outside. Fireflies are poisonous I have read so I would avoid those. You can catch moths at a porch light during the night to feed the mantis.

Yeah but you gotta think about winter too.