Feeding the nymphs

[ninjaboy1988]

I am raising mantids this year, and I was wondering about the best food for the nymphs. It should be free, easy, but it doesn't have to be simple, any suggestions?

 

[PRicardo]

Fruit flies (FF). D. melanogaster for the smaller ones, and D. hydei for the bigger L1 nymphs are good. After somekinda flies... housefly, greenbottle, bluebottle flies in growing order Good luck.

 

[lancaster1313]

You could go out and catch moths, grasshoppers, and many other kinds of insects after the nymphs are big enough to eat them. Just be careful where you hunt them. Make sure it is a place where no pesticides are used. I have had small nymphs take baby roaches, tiny leafhoppers, and other gnat like insects that I have caught with nets. I have had a problem with a few Carolina L1s and L2s dying after eating aphids from an ixora bush, their mouths seemed like they were glued or something, but no problems with aphids from other less sticky plants.

 

[ninjaboy1988]

Thanks. I think that I have a Chinese mantid eggcase, but I'm not sure.

 

[dgerndt]

If you post a picture, we can probably identify it for you.

 

[PhilinYuma]

You could go out and catch moths, grasshoppers, and many other kinds of insects after the nymphs are big enough to eat them. Just be careful where you hunt them. Make sure it is a place where no pesticides are used. I have had small nymphs take baby roaches, tiny leafhoppers, and other gnat like insects that I have caught with nets. I have had a problem with a few Carolina L1s and L2s dying after eating aphids from an ixora bush, their mouths seemed like they were glued or something, but no problems with aphids from other less sticky plants.

Brilliant post (for me, anyway)! It is possible but improbable that your nymphs were affected by the sticky sap of the ixora bush, since aphids convert some of the sap into honey dew to persuade ants to protect them in a commensual relationship. My guess is that these might have been pea aphids Acyrthosiphon pisum and your nymphs were killed by suicide-bomber aphids. I think that Hypoponera or I mentioned this when we were talking about a species of carpenter ant that does the same thing. It is called autothysis, and these bugs may be the only ones that practice it in the U.S.. When the aphids are attacked, say by ladybird beetle larvae, the suicide bomber caste engages them and explodes in a sticky mess. Usually, even if it is not killed, the beetle larva will simply fall off the leaf, where it ceases to be a threat.

I think that I have a nice discussion of this in a book by an ASU prof, but alas, it is roaming around the apt, somewhere, probably misfiled with C19 British army uniforms. Meantime, for a deliberately unsophisticated account, try here:

http://blog.nus.edu.sg/lsm1303student2010/2010/04/09/natures-very-own-suicide-bombers/ and scroll down to A. pisum.

And thanks again for this.

 

[sporeworld]

Fantastic! Even the part about the suicidal (self-sacrificing) behavior. Amazing.