Feeder supply in winter/summer

[Velvet]

I'm sure someone has asked this question before, but I was having trouble finding another thread on it.

I've raised a couple of mantids before, but always in the spring.  I live in a part of the U.S. that gets both very hot summers and harsh winters.  A recent order of blue bottle pupae were actually hatching in the package due to a sudden heat wave here, which got me concerned about the logistics of keeping mantids year round - something I would like to be able to do, especially if I want to try breeding. 

How do folks get their supplies of feeders during harsh summer or winter months?  I'm fairly confident that I could culture fruit flies, but I am not confident that my small apartment is conducive to culturing the larger flies necessary for many species.  Are the sort of "bad shipping months" something I should be preparing for in advance, or are there special shipping options to deal with this?  My local retail options are pretty limited. 

 

[Digger]

Cold months can be a challenge.  You can get feeders from trusted suppliers (referenced in various places on this forum).  Not sure why bb or houseflies would cause you a problem in your apt.  Just be careful with logistics (chill the critters in the fridge before opening the container to remove a few feeders with forceps.  I also rely on gut-loaded crickets in winter, which I buy from either PetSmart or Petco.  Shipping vendors usually won't ship small quantities of crix.  If your pets are small enough, keeping and recycling new melonogasters or hydei is a snap.  Summer is easy as well.  A large part of my feeding process from May to late October here in S.E. Pennsylvania is to harvest various flying critters from a butterfly bush or a porch light at night.  Vendors ship feeders with heat packs in winter.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

I prefer to culture my own insects so I always have bugs on tap. Panchlora nivea, a species of small roach have become my go to feeders. Super easy to care for and breed. I use them as my mantids' staple diet and leave picking up bugs like waxworms, mealworms, and other flies as extras thrown in occasionally for variety. I also culture my own fruit flies, can't remember the last time I needed to buy any it has been so many years now. Even when I don't have anything to feed them too I will keep a cup each going of the mels and hydei as I find it more convenient then having to worry about ordering some in every time I got new babies in.

 

[Velvet]

I'm always a bit wary of catching insects from outside as my complex sprays pesticides constantly. Roaches are a culture I hadn't really considered, so I will look into those, and I am confident I can keep the fruit flies going forever.

I had just read a lot of threads on this board about trying to culture houseflies or bottle flies and it seems that the general consensus has been "it's an absolute nightmare."  Hopefully I can still get some shipments through in winter for those species that really prefer flying prey.

 

[Sarah K]

All the online mantis stores, including my own, ship blue bottle flies all year long.

 

[Ocelotbren]

All the online mantis stores, including my own, ship blue bottle flies all year long.

Yeah, I had stable flies and house flies delivered here in Michigan in winter and didn't have much issue.  Is it possible for it to be cold enough for the pupae to not hatch after having been exposed to especially cold temperatures in transit using 2 day shipping?  I don't recall if I made any orders during particularly cold spells.  I did have one order of flies (not from you) where even the ones I hatched immediately barely managed to get out of the case, if at all, and their wings and sometimes legs were messed up.  I never figured out what caused it, because orders before and after that were all okay.  Not sure if the cold could play a part?

 

[Sarah K]

Yeah, I had stable flies and house flies delivered here in Michigan in winter and didn't have much issue.  Is it possible for it to be cold enough for the pupae to not hatch after having been exposed to especially cold temperatures in transit using 2 day shipping?  I don't recall if I made any orders during particularly cold spells.  I did have one order of flies (not from you) where even the ones I hatched immediately barely managed to get out of the case, if at all, and their wings and sometimes legs were messed up.  I never figured out what caused it, because orders before and after that were all okay.  Not sure if the cold could play a part?

LOL.....I guess I am not really sure about the answers to any of those questions! But I have theories. ;P Honestly, when sending them out, people don't always report to me if they have issues, so I always assume everything was fine with the order. However, if more people actually reported issues to me when they had them, at least there would be more evidence to base my theories on! 

 

[Ocelotbren]

@Sarah K Ah yeah that is true!