Fruit fly blowdart: How I feed my individual nymphs.

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~.~ Brave Mike .. I would Never do that .. maybe I should do a video how i feed mine........ the speed of feed that way is too slow ... I will take me 2x amount of time feed what i have ... If u are good enough I have already to master to tap enough FF's that i need to feed per Mantis .... that sucking why is crazy cause I see Mites In Some Of my culture ... I would not risk my health for sucking it ...even with a cloth ... as a filter ... some thing is just so small u can't see. It looks like a fun Idea ...but not something i would try ...

 
SilentDeviL said:
~.~ Brave Mike .. I would Never do that .. maybe I should do a video how i feed mine........ the speed of feed that way is too slow ... I will take me 2x amount of time feed what i have ... If u are good enough I have already to master to tap enough FF's that i need to feed per Mantis .... that sucking why is crazy cause I see Mites In Some Of my culture ... I would not risk my health for sucking it ...even with a cloth ... as a filter ... some thing is just so small u can't see. It looks like a fun Idea ...but not something i would try ...
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I've gotten it down pretty quick. I've had a lot of mantids crawl out the feeding hole when I go to tap in FFs and that makes things last way longer than my method does. Plus this material even resists water so I'm not worried about it.

 
I have been using this technique over the course of my keeping mantids and have never had any ill health effects. Just the regular seasonal colds, sniffles, and occasional cough (That could be caused by my smoking, too) I guess it just depends on your suck and blow technique.

 
That little fruitfly bugnapper is very cool! I would hook it up to a vacuum, somehow... Save myself from the fruitfly germs! Haha! :)

 
Introvertebrate said:
It would work, but that would concern me a little since they're known carriers of bacteria.
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Wild caught ones sure, but BB's that have only seen honey or what ever not so sure.

patrickfraser said:
Worrying about getting sick is what makes people sick.
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Malakyoma said:
I like to use my immune system once in a while. I also almost never get sick. maybe there's a correlation.
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Yes sir your both right, its a proven fact that people who have to wash their hands every time they touch something, total clean freaks, and in general just worry too much about germs are the first ones to get sick when they finally do get a germ or bacteria on/in them.

 
I'm raising melanos and hydei in squeeze bottles right now - the kind you would use for sauces and such... normally it's plugged with a foam stopper, but when I need to feed, I just screw on the top nozzle piece, invert the bottle, and tap/squeeze to blow the flies into the different mantis enclosures. It really allows great control and speeds things up a lot! Especially because I can set it down without worrying about flies crawling out.

Next item on the list is a squeeze bottle with a larger nozzle that can make transferring houseflies and BBs easier as well!

 
Montana said:
I'm raising melanos and hydei in squeeze bottles right now - the kind you would use for sauces and such... normally it's plugged with a foam stopper, but when I need to feed, I just screw on the top nozzle piece, invert the bottle, and tap/squeeze to blow the flies into the different mantis enclosures. It really allows great control and speeds things up a lot! Especially because I can set it down without worrying about flies crawling out.

Next item on the list is a squeeze bottle with a larger nozzle that can make transferring houseflies and BBs easier as well!
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Thats really interesting. I'll give that a try next.

 
Montana said:
I'm raising melanos and hydei in squeeze bottles right now - the kind you would use for sauces and such... normally it's plugged with a foam stopper, but when I need to feed, I just screw on the top nozzle piece, invert the bottle, and tap/squeeze to blow the flies into the different mantis enclosures. It really allows great control and speeds things up a lot! Especially because I can set it down without worrying about flies crawling out.

Next item on the list is a squeeze bottle with a larger nozzle that can make transferring houseflies and BBs easier as well!
Click to expand...
I wonder if this would work with those ketchcup and musturd plastic bottles you see at BBq's and such?

Malakyoma: I wonder about blowing/sucking through those face masks they dispense at Dr's. offices when those in waiting are sick? They sell them at drug stores as well. Personally, I don't see an issue with it, then again I do all sorts of weird stuff. :nuke:

 
Great video, thanks for posting it, very helpful!

I was expecting someone firing flies into mantis faces with a blowgun though.

The big collector you made is essentially an insect collecting aspirator which is used a lot to collect small insects in the field. I've sucked up many a beetle and ant with those. Seems like it might be a good way to catch some slower flies or small moths at flowers for an extra mantis snack.

I wouldn't worry about sucking up spores and bacteria. You breathe in all that stuff all the time anyway. I've been using aspirators for years, sucking up insects out of rotten logs and all kinds of spore-rich environments for years with no ill effects. *twitch twitch*

But I know some people who use the HEPA filter mentioned above, so if you're worried that works fine. They also don't drink out of the drinking fountain.

Some ants, like carpenter ants (Camponotus sp.) give off formic acid when you vacuum them up, so you end up coughing after collecting a few of those. Just a useless factiod...

Thanks again for posting the video!

 

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