Feeder Insects

Foxhill · Oct 29, 2018

Hey all. Ive been buying the minimum quantity of bait i.e locusts, crickets and mealworms and found that as Ive only 2 Mantids they werent getting through them all. I started housing the Locusts in an enclosure like Ive been doing with the PMs with cabbage added and found that they were living for weeks but as they grow so damn fast they were outgrowing the mantids and soon became too large. I started keeping the mealworms in the room but after a week or so they really started smelling foul even when I cleaned out the enclosure plus I was providing heat which made the problem worse. I decided that that was it and no longer am I going to keep the bait indoors. I dont like wasting insects either. The shop that I obtained the Mantids did say I could buy a few at a time but it would mean making regular trips to the shop which is out of town. Ive collected insects from the woods where Im sure that no pesticide or fert has been used but Im never certain where theyve been. Im considering making an enclosure outdoors with some form of frost protection but Im in the U.K and the cold weather is just setting in, got a long English winter ahead so that may not work. How and where do you guys keep your feeder insects?? Im aware that it must be easier living in a warmer climate, I did have a shed at one point , thanks for your advice folks

Mantis Lady · Oct 29, 2018

I keep the grasshoppers and dubias inside of my home. Mealworms I tried 1x and never again, and they stink like heck. In my country it is way too cold now for insectss to live. (netherlands)

What I do when feeders gets to big: cut them in half and 2 mantids can eat

offer it with your tweezers. Put juicy part of prey under their mouth and they start eating.

MantisGirl13 · Oct 29, 2018

I keep my roaches and fruit flies inside my mantis closet. Like @Little Mantis said, one feeder does not have to feed only one mantis. You can tear it in half or quarters and feed it to two, three, even four mantids depending on the size of the mantis and the feeder.

- MantisGirl13

Graceface · Oct 29, 2018

I feed flies to my mantises. You can get fly pupae and store them unhatched in the fridge, then pull them out as needed. They hatch quickly; you can put the pupae into enclosures and let them hatch or hatch them in cups with lids and feed chilled live flies. That way, you can store what you don't need. I've seen they do this with mealworms, too, at the local pet store, chilling the worms and pulling from the fridge to feed.

Feeder breeding can be smelly and does require warmth. I'm working on breeding flies, which is smelly, but no more so than mealworms and superworms, in my experience so far. We have gotten curly flies down, but they are small so we're working on Blue Bottle flies now. Just had our first hatch yesterday!!! Temperature is an issue here in the mountains of WA and we will have to start heating our shop to accommodate the flies and mealworms.

Good luck with your feeders and mantises!