Feeding mosquitoes to nymphs?

[MantidLover21]

Hi,

I'm a complete newbie here, and just a few days ago I hatched what I beleive to be a Chinese Mantis egg case. I let most go, but am keeping two (seprate), and I had a feeding question...are mosqitoes okay to feed them? I haven't been able to find my answer anywhere else. Other things we have been feeding them are fruit flys, and small beetles. Is all this enough variety? Oh, and we've put a few aphids in there as well. They seem to prefer the fruit flys.

Also, what is the best way to water them? I've simply been puttings small drops of water in there. Is this okay?

Thanks!

 

[CoolMantid]

Misting them is best.

If you have enough mosquitoes, those are fine

 

[MantidLover21]

Thanks- I don't plan to soley feed them on mosquitoes, just every once in a while.

 

[hutch2828]

If the mosquitos are small enough then it should be fine. I've noticed that my mantids haven't been too into the mosquitos though. They prefer fruit flys and the more accepted types of food, I guess thats why people use them lol.

 

[gripen]

Hi,

I'm a complete newbie here, and just a few days ago I hatched what I beleive to be a Chinese Mantis egg case. I let most go, but am keeping two (seprate), and I had a feeding question...are mosqitoes okay to feed them? I haven't been able to find my answer anywhere else. Other things we have been feeding them are fruit flys, and small beetles. Is all this enough variety? Oh, and we've put a few aphids in there as well. They seem to prefer the fruit flys.

Also, what is the best way to water them? I've simply been puttings small drops of water in there. Is this okay?

Thanks!

I would say stick to fruit flies. Mantids do not need a varied diet so that is all I give mine until they can take flies.

 

[Rick]

Make a fine food.

 

[Mvalenz]

How are you catching mosquitoes?

 

[rs4guy]

Almost all small flying insects would be fine, including mesquitos. I have used them myself, they tend to love the fast moving skeeters IMO.

 

[Introvertebrate]

It might be easiest to find some mosquito larvae in stagnant water. You could put a water container inside your mantis enclosure, and just wait for the larvae to morph out.

 

[eyes]

I'm also interested if anyone has tips on catching mosquitoes. There are millions of them around here but I haven't figured out a good way to catch them. I have a small vaccuum that I catch some with by sucking them into a bottle but I really would like some sort of trap that could catch dozens of them. My L2 Chinese mantids absolutely love them but it's hard to keep catching them manually, especially without accidentally killing them.