European mantis l1

[mantisfan101]

Has anyone else tried hatching them? I tried once and the nymphs at L1 were extremely difficult to feed and I only managed to get a few to eat fruit flies. 

 

[hysteresis]

Has anyone else tried hatching them? I tried once and the nymphs at L1 were extremely difficult to feed and I only managed to get a few to eat fruit flies. 

If my ooth is fertile, I'll let you know this spring.

 

[mantisfan101]

Good luck on that! Also, I have hatched an ooth and noticed that the nymphs were surprisigly difficult to get past the first instar, you’d need speingtails to feed and sustain them. 

 

[hysteresis]

... you’d need speingtails to feed and sustain them. 

Thanks for the heads up. Luckily, the reptile shop I frequent has springtails available.

 

[bugboymark]

Had to throw a comment in on this one!  I know I've mentioned it before on previous posts/threads...but the I think L2 European nymphs were the most difficult to raise of any I've experienced.  I've had L2s that are as small as the Europeans, but most seemed willing to tackle stuff that was a little bigger. The only thing that worked for me (as D. melanogasters were too big apparently) was to catch the smallest gnats I could find.  Would catch them with a plastic cup on top of flowers in late spring/early summer.  It was a lot of work and only a few made it through to later stages.  Small aphids would work too, if you can find them.  It often makes me wonder how the heck these little guys make it through in the wild!  

Anyhow, if I had known about springtails at the time, I probably would have used those.  Easier than crawling around trying procure little gnats that I could barely see.