Curly Wing Fly

[Jwonni]

i have some orchid mantis nymphs and they are currently on fruit flies but i have had my first 2 curly wings hatch out at the moment the curly wings will have a larger body mass than the mantids

when will they be ready to chanhe over should i wait till the mantis is bigger than the fly? and should i wait till they are quite a bit bigger than the flies?

 

[infinity]

could get a bit icky and u might not wanna try it but you could try feeding the maggots of those flies to the mantis... they're smaller and probably easier for the lil guy to grab hold of... or what I did/ do... if you have any roses or similar plants prone to aphids... use their babies - smaller than flies...

 

[Jwonni]

dont think i have any maggot they all look to be casters

should i provide the flys with something to eat? what do they eat?

 

[infinity]

flies aren't really picky... it just has to be reasonably moist with a good carb/ protein mix... there are loads of posts on this but crushed oats, mashed potatoe flakes, a little yeast, a little honey maybe - that sort of mixture should work fine for a while... depends on what smells you can cope with

If there are no maggots, either resort to cannibalism or like I said, try to find something smaller... (people will shoot me for saying this) could even try mites if you say they're that small - but i personally would be looking for tiny greenfly or the other garden pests - whitefly - maybe micro-maggots you can occasionally get from fishing shops

 

[Jwonni]

If there are no maggots, either resort to cannibalism

no no no i have food they are eating fruit flys quite happilily i was just wanting to know when i shouod up the food to curly wings

 

[infinity]

Rule of thumb is to feed them any food they will take... Feed them fruitflies until they are able to take the curlies- possibly feeding some micro crix in there too as flies lack one of the amino acids if I'm not mistaken...