Feeder Sustainability

[Roaming]

Hi all!

I have two young Ghosts (L3/4 i'm pretty sure) and I've been feeding them houseflies.  I was wondering if most people with only a few mantises simply reorder a batch of feeders every 2-3 of weeks, or is there a better option than to constantly order feeders online.  Since my ghosts don't really need to eat that many flies i'm finding that the shelf life, and not the quantity of flies is the main upkeep issue.  Is this what I should be doing or is there a better way to have a constant source of food?  It seems like a fine balance between knowing when to order a new batch and the current ones going bad.  After all, I don't want my friends to go hungry!  FYI i'm in Sacramento, CA if anyone knows a good place in the area to get feeders.

Thanks!

Roaming

 

[River Dane]

Hi Roaming,

I was directed towards cultivating BBS and Phoenix Worms when I asked a similar question.



But if you don’t want to culture Soldier Flies, you can try some species of moths. I haven’t seen any care guides for them besides waxworms and waxmoths. 

But someone else might be able to offer more suggestions.

Good luck!

—D.E.

 

[CosbyArt]

@Roaming For house and bottle flies there is no option for culturing indoors really, and has been discussed multiple times, see my recent post and links...



Besides buying the pupae as needed for feeders, when possible catching flies outdoors is a good option and one I do when weather cooperates. Traps such as the one I linked to are the easiest, but nets are fast and easy if there are plenty.

However, for most mantid species (Ghost included) they easily accept other prey and why most keepers tend to culture crickets and/or roaches. See the recent thread about them..