Feeding flies to your mantids

[dgerndt]

I'm still relatively new to feeding flies to my mantids since I've always had species that would eat crickets. But when I got a Gongy a little while ago, I had to start. I did the math, and it's much cheaper and less time-consuming to just feed all my mantids bluebottle flies instead of crickets. $5 in crickets once a week, plus all the time and energy to feed the crickets, etc... It's much easier (and about $15 cheaper each month) to just drop a few pupae in each enclosure once a day.

But once they hatch into flies, the problem begins. I have nine different enclosures to put flies in, and they only stay chilled and non-flying for a short time. I might be able to do it in time if it weren't for every mantis trying to escape as soon as I take the lid off. <_< Plus, all my mantids are on the second floor of the house, and the freezer is on the first floor. So add the time of running through the kitchen and up the stairs, and it's simply impossible for me to get it all done in one trip. It's more like three trips. Sure, running up and down the stairs is good exercise, but it's getting rather annoying. Not to mention the flies that escape!

Bottom line: I need a new system for feeding flies to my mantids before I go nuts. So what's your technique?

 

[sporeworld]

If I stuck with a system for more than a week, I'd feel more comfortable telling you what to try. :-(

Many people (probably accurately) say you have to give the flies a day or two of feeding before using THEM as food (there are several threads on this). If you're doing a mass release, you can trust the numbers and let them go in the enclosure with food inside. Day one won't be so great, but after that, should be fine. Down-side: Your enclosure will be covered in fly spit.

Blue Bottles, in particular, can last a lot longer in the freezer than you think. My experiments had a few lasting 30 minutes - crazy. They woke up about 15 minutes later and started buzzing around. Worth experimenting.

I've been using sort of "Drop pods" lately. I put a small about of pupa (maybe 20) in a small solo cup with a lid. Pupa in the fridge, dated. I take them about about 3-4 days before I need them. When they hatch, I put them in the enclosure and pop the lid (probably should put them in the fridge first to slow em down).

I had a larger version of this, very similar to mantisplace's hatchery. I used water bottle caps hotglued to the bottom filled with pupa/food/water. For the water, I used cricket quencher gel. But a recent post from Phil makes me think i could just use fruit fly medium.

To get the flies out, I use this setup:

Not sure if you can understand it, but I slide the paper in when I take out the plg. Slide the jar over the paper. Slide out the paper.

Flies crawl up into the jar. I slide back the paper, and either slide over the plug, or another jar. One of these days I'll do a video.

Hope that helps.

 

[PhilinYuma]

kova

This is a perenial problem, Deby and different solutions suit different folks.

One is to put pupae in the enclosure instead of flies. My problem with this is that I am never sure when those pupae will eclose.

Another, is to take the stunned flies from the freezer (you are using the freezer, right, not the refrigerator?) and put them into those tiny pots that folk use for packing individual nymphs. Put a lid on each and release them in the cage. That doesnt work too well in deli cups, though, unless you use a funnel and turn the pot upside down into it.

Do you buy flies from SpiderPharm? If so, you know that Anita weaves those tiny muslin sacks that tie at the top (and then sticks "made in China" tags on them!) for the pupae. If you use deli cups and have a plug in the top, you can put the flies in twelve sacks and open them into the cups while they are still coming round.

Another method is to fill a waterproof box with ice and store the cup of flies in it in between feedings if the flies are waking up too soon.

My own method is to use my mechanical aspirator to suck up flies in a net cage,remove the collecting jar and release the right amount into each cage. This is easily the fastest and most efficient method, and I have posted on how to make the aspirator somewhere on the forum, but no one else has made one and lived to tell the tale!

The pro's use different methods. One method, usually used in fruit fly labs, is to stun them with anesthetic (diethyl) ether, but it is likely that you will be able to find any since its use is, rightly, restricted. Perhaps you could date a doctor. I have tried aromatic hydrocarbons with a low boiling point like MEK and lighter fluid. They stun the flies alright, but most are never able to fly again. They just wander around asking which way is up. Carolina biological supplies sells a "safe" alternative but the cost would be prohibitive, at least for me.

So that leaves the last alternative, easily the best, but one which I have not tried yet, carbon dioxide. Go on Amazon or Google and bring up "carbon dioxide canisters. You should be able to find a five pound one for between fifty and a hundred bucks. Next find a single valve regulator and some tubing. Finally, take the empty canister to a welding shop and have them fill the canister. Take it home and a couple of whifs into a cup full of flies will knock them out instantly and they will stay out long enough for you to feed them safely.

And after all this, I suspect that someone like Rebecca will have a faster, easier method!

 

[Termite48]

Deby: From the sounds of things, you could use a small hole with a stopper in each enclosure. Depending on the type you have, it can be dome rather easily. There is no way any of us could continually tolerate having to open an enclosure each time with the chance of loosing your mantids to the outside of the cage or habitat. Notice that Phil's seems to be rather large with a sponge. If you have for some nymphs just a deli-contained with a mesh top, making a hole in that with a cotton ball stopper is all that is needed. If you are feeding houseflies and BBs, then perhaps you are not keeping younger nymphs. I literally pour the cold-stunned fruit flies via a funnel into container habitat through a 1/4" size opening. It is quite possible that the fruit flies have not found there way out again once they are up and about. So if you are slow in replacing the cotton ball, it is not a great deal of trouble right away.

 

[Rick]

I put them in the freezer until they are not moving at all. You should be able to get them fed before they all wake up again. If not, put the flies into the mantis enclosure and have them eclose there.

 

[alicenwnderlnd]

I use rebecca's great ff containers! they are awesome, you put the flies in there to hatch and presto! remove the stopper and they fly up to be released! i have put a whole in all of my enclosures that match the top of the fly bottle, put them together and release as many as i need! it has made my life simpler for sure! for my big enclosures, i usually mass feed, and add fly pupa, food and such, but the bottles save a lot of work. check them out at mantisplace.com they are inexpensive also.

 

[dgerndt]

Wow, that's a lot of different techniques. I'll have to try them out and see which works best.

@Sporeworld: That's such a great idea to just wait and let them climb into the container! Thank you.

@Phil: I always enjoy reading your posts. I don't know any doctors I could date, so I think I'll try the tiny cup method. I was thinking about that as an option, as well.

@Rich: I should really add a hole and stopper to all of my plastic containers. Thanks for the tip!

@Rick: I don't want them in there so long that they'll die.

@Alice: I saw those containers while browsing Rebecca's site before. They look like a really good thing to have! I might order some if these other methods don't work.

 

[Mr.Mantid]

I have a big container with wood chips on the bottom. every few days I squirt some honey in there. When I want flies I remove the small sponge and insert a small bottle in there and wait for a few to fly in.