Hello from Arkansas!

[dubia4life]

Hey everyone!

I've been keeping some pet cockroaches and a few other inverts for awhile now, and I've decided to maybe branch out into a few different inverts. I tried my hand at uvlight trapping/gathering and I was rather surprised with what I saw. I caught a ton of scarab beetles, and I saw 3 mantid nymphs and a ton of moths. I REALLY wanted to take those mantid nymphs, but they were so small, I was afraid any food I had to offer (such as lobster roach nymphs,) would be too big for them! Could anyone give me ideas on what to feed them if I encounter more? They were a little less than 1/2 an inch in length. Thanks a ton!

 

[Ocelotbren]

Welcome to the forum!  Fruit flies are the go-to feeder for small nymphs, which you could possibly buy at the local pet store.  You can also buy cultures online if you're looking for a larger and long term supply.  Or, and I haven't tried it myself, you could try making a fruit fly trap using fruit as bait.  I've heard of people doing this.  Others that have tried it could maybe give you more information on how well that works though.

Good luck!

 

[dubia4life]

Welcome to the forum!  Fruit flies are the go-to feeder for small nymphs, which you could possibly buy at the local pet store.  You can also buy cultures online if you're looking for a larger and long term supply.  Or, and I haven't tried it myself, you could try making a fruit fly trap using fruit as bait.  I've heard of people doing this.  Others that have tried it could maybe give you more information on how well that works though.

Good luck!

Awesome! I have heard of people using fruit flies for small reptiles, I used to breed small native skink species in my area a long time ago, and I would feed them wild caught fruit flies until they were old enough for larger feeders. I'll see if I can trap some, if that doesn't work I'll probably just buy them. Thanks mate!

 

[Ocelotbren]

@dubia4life That's awesome, we have a lot of skinks living around our house and I've been seeing a bunch of young ones recently.  Super cute.  I hope you get some mantis nymphs next time!

 

[Rick]

Welcome

 

[Serle]

Hola.....

 

[dubia4life]

Welcome

Thank you!

 

[dubia4life]

Hola.....

Hello!

 

[Sarah K]

@dubia4life:Welcome! The best thing about fruit flies is if you are diligent enough to start new fruit fly cultures using a media such as Repashy Superfly, every few weeks, you only have to buy fruit flies once, and you will have a regular supply of fruit flies for years, without ever having to buy them again!

 

[dubia4life]

@dubia4life:Welcome! The best thing about fruit flies is if you are diligent enough to start new fruit fly cultures using a media such as Repashy Superfly, every few weeks, you only have to buy fruit flies once, and you will have a regular supply of fruit flies for years, without ever having to buy them again!

Thank you! I'm kind of a cheapskate to be honest lol, so that's why my mind went straight to catching my own. However, now that I know I can just culture my own, I'll probably just buy some. I'll do more research for sure, thanks!

 

[Sarah K]

Thank you! I'm kind of a cheapskate to be honest lol, so that's why my mind went straight to catching my own. However, now that I know I can just culture my own, I'll probably just buy some. I'll do more research for sure, thanks!

Yeah, I honestly think making the cultures is much easier, and then you don't have to worry about dealing with flying fruit flies escaping in your house and possibly becoming pests either, as all the ones sold as feeders are flightless, which definitely makes them easier to deal with, manage, and transport!

 

[CosbyArt]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Hydei fruit flies (Drosophila hydei) would be the ideal feeders for such small mantid nymphs. The flies you can capture yourself, but the flightless variety sold makes using them as feeders easier. Also take a look at the posts for making FF cultures, and making FF food medium.