Fruit flies

[Geckospot]

Which type of fruit flies do you guys use? Hydei or melanogaster? Who has the best fly medium? What methods do you use to distribute them to the mantids? They always jump out of the cup and run all over the place.

Thanks

 

[Ian]

I use both, eother, depending on what species of mantis I am keeping, or just what flies I have left. The only easy way I can find is rearing the nymphs in nets. That way, just undo the zip slightly at the bottom, and pop the whole culture in. Quick, easy, and you dont get flies everywhere. Also, with the nets, it makes the actual mantids a lot more easily accessable.

Cheers,

Ian

 

[Rick]

I use melanogaster. I raise them in the small vials and tap it over a funnel to make them go where I want them to go.

 

[PseudoDave]

The culture i last ordered shocked me today. I've been using wild fruities of varying species/sizes as well, and knew that eventually the little fellas would start flying again, i expected one or two as a 'warning', i opened the box today and it went from none flying yesterday to full on air-raid today...

 

[Obie]

I use flightless D. hydei for all my nymphs. I rear them in 32oz deli cups using medium from Ed's Fly Meat https://www.shop.edsflymeat.com/categoryNav...oryStyle=Style4

To feed them to my mantises I pour a bunch through a funnel (interior painted with bug stop) into a 20 dram vial. Then I put that in the freezer for a few minutes...just until the flies are anesthetized, but not killed. Then I just sprinkle a few into each mantis's container... Sounds complicated but its really not...I can feed hundreds of nymphs in 20 or 30 minutes.