finding food.
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Malti
Well-known member
you can catch moths - just put on a bulb at night and use a net, you'll get loads. you can also catch flies, my method is a small deep container like a McD cup, fill it with yukies (I use horse dung for greenbottles and M. Domestica) and then with a net put it over the container every few minutes, and you'll have a catch :lol:
other insects you can catch by chance, just don't catch hard body insects like beetles...non-posionous caterpillars, centipedes and other worm-like creatures should be ok too.
PhilinYuma
Well-known member
It sounds as though yr nymphs are still small if you are feeding them wingless ffs.
If you make up some ff food (are you already doing this?) and add rather more yeast than usual and put it in a deli cup with a couple of the fabric holes in the lid punched out, you should catch plenty of wild ffs. A lot of folks just use vinegar on a twist of paper instead of the food, but obviously they won't breed that way.
If you are raising the nymphs in a pot, you'll find that the wild ffs will need to be stunned in the fridge before you feed them, otherwise they will fly away.
if you are just in a hunting mood, make or buy a sweeping net (Google is yr friend, here), take a couple of jars with you and sweep away in any tall grass. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!
If you make up some ff food (are you already doing this?) and add rather more yeast than usual and put it in a deli cup with a couple of the fabric holes in the lid punched out, you should catch plenty of wild ffs. A lot of folks just use vinegar on a twist of paper instead of the food, but obviously they won't breed that way.
If you are raising the nymphs in a pot, you'll find that the wild ffs will need to be stunned in the fridge before you feed them, otherwise they will fly away.
if you are just in a hunting mood, make or buy a sweeping net (Google is yr friend, here), take a couple of jars with you and sweep away in any tall grass. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!
patrickfraser
Well-known member
Just the other day (wed) I caught a beetle and fed it to my adult female shield mantis. She ended up throwing up some and was acting very strange. She wouldn't even go after any other food put in with her. Yesterday she was even worse and today she was dead. She was such a beautiful bug and I am sickened by her death. The only thing I can think happened was that the beetle had been poisoned from insecticide, somewhere, and ended up poisoning my mantid. I don't think it is worth the risk for me after that. I'll stick to my flies and dubia roaches that I raise myself.
I went back to the same field that I caught my mantis and caught some tiny moths. Which will work for now. I'll go ahead and start cultivating some fruit flys in my fridge. I wont be able to do the yeast thing since I'm actually allergic to yeast, so will just putting some rotting fruit in the fridge in a container with a screen top work? Thanks for the help!
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PhilinYuma
Well-known member
Did you really mean in the fridge or on the fridge? Make sure that your culture is on top of the refrigerator, not in it! Use a mesh that is too small for the flies and don't put the lid on until there are plenty of flies in the pot
hahaha, I actually did mean IN the fridge. then my fiancee yelled at me for trying to grow fruit flies in the fridge. Well I got in trouble for trying to grow them in the house period lol. so right now I have a container sitting on my deck. I don't know a whole lot about insects and even less about fruit flies. I put an old strawberry in a cleaned spice shaker and left the lid with the holes side open cracked enough for flies to get in. I'm assuming any rotting fruit will attract them, and when I notice them growing I hope I'll be able to sneak outside and shut the lid quick enough to catch them. That's the best i can do right now anyway since I have no screen.Did you really mean in the fridge or on the fridge? Make sure that your culture is on top of the refrigerator, not in it! Use a mesh that is too small for the flies and don't put the lid on until there are plenty of flies in the pot
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