Hello from Philly

[tszabo86]

Hey my name is Tiberiu, I'm 24 years old... from the philly area. I have several plants in my back yard and in front of the house that have been getting destroyed year after year by aphids and flea beetles so I ended up researching ways to deal with those nasty creatures without chemicals. One of the insects that came up in alot of my searches was the praying mantis. I always thought they were intriguing creatures but I never knew that people were into breeding them and raising them as pets... and wow... all these cool looking species. I have an ootheca coming in from a Tenodera Sinensis (Read that they are very hardy and easy to take care of). I am planing to keep 2 or 3 and raise them to adulthood and release the rest in my yard.

 

[lancaster1313]

Welcome.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Welcome.

 

[guapoalto049]

Welcome to the forum! I've found that Tenodera are good aphid control for the first month or so of their lives. Then they get biiiiig

 

[Rick]

Welcome. Yep those get big so they will not eat aphids and flea beetles after the first couple molts.

 

[Mr.Mantid]

Welcome.

 

[tszabo86]

Welcome. Yep those get big so they will not eat aphids and flea beetles after the first couple molts.

Hopefully they will take care of them long enough to give my tomatoes a chance to get ripe

 

[yen_saw]

Hopefully they will take care of them long enough to give my tomatoes a chance to get ripe

Ladybugs and their larvae are more effective to control pest like aphids, you can get them online too. But do keep mantis as well

 

[lancaster1313]

Ladybugs and their larvae are more effective to control pest like aphids, you can get them online too. But do keep mantis as well

I got some ladybug larvae for my daughter and they are cool. Once they emerged from their pupae, they seemed to spend as much time mating as they did eating aphids, maybe more time mating. :lol: They still eat tons of aphids.

 

[tszabo86]

I got some ladybug larvae for my daughter and they are cool. Once they emerged from their pupae, they seemed to spend as much time mating as they did eating aphids, maybe more time mating. :lol: They still eat tons of aphids.

i guess when i order a fruit fly culture i'll order some ladybugs too. Speaking of.... I heard some people feed mantids pinhead crickets when theyre L1 and L2, would those work?