horsehair worms

[Codexe]

Hey I'm new to this 
I found a praying mantis on a window and took it in. It looked pretty weak 
since then I bought a net cage  and care for it as best I can 
For food I caught wild crickets and grasshoppers in a field close by, and moths 
This morning a cricket was dead and we sprayed the inside of the cricket cage and a couple horsehair worms came out 
hopefully my mantis didnt eat one from another cricket
looks like I'm gonna need to buy feeder insects online 
is there a way to make sure my mantis is healthy and doesn't have a worm? 

 

[Jaywo]

I don't know if they affect mantids but I'm also not sure if you can be 100% sure either. Horse hair worms are creepy.

 

[MantisGirl13]

Horse hair worms do affect mantids. Just keep an eye on her, but if she has one, you can't do much to help her!

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Krissim Klaw]

If the mantis is wild caught they could already be a carrier from being outside.

Even with an infected cricket, I imagine transfer to a mantis would depend partially on the stage the worm is in when consumed.

 

[Codexe]

Ill check and try to notice if she does anything weird 
last night I thought she was acting a bit funny but then she pooped loll 
hopefully she's fine and I can find enough moths until I can buy some better feeders 
still have to convince my wife that buying 100 crickets is a good thing loll

 

[hysteresis]

Feed BBFs

 

[Codexe]

I would but no matter how much I search I can't find anyplace online that sells to Canada with a reasonable price 
I think I found one that was 1000 spikes for 40$ with shipping and thats about 60$ here. cant spend that much on feeders that are gonna die within a month. maybe up to 15-20$ would be acceptable 
Im probably gonna buy crickets from a place online that said they weren't feeding them carrots and then keep them in an enclosure with good veggies for them to eat and digest for 2-3 days  before starting to take them to feed and try to have them breed 
for now though Im feeding mealworms  but theyll get expensive fast, she ate 4 adult crickets one time 

 

[Jaywo]

Someone told me to put a small piece of raw meat in a jar outside with a funnel. Another person suggested condensed milk. Try those and you can just catch wild flies when you are in a pinch.

 

[Codexe]

Ill definitely try that 

 

[hysteresis]

I would but no matter how much I search I can't find anyplace online that sells to Canada with a reasonable price 
I think I found one that was 1000 spikes for 40$ with shipping and thats about 60$ here. 

What? 1000 spikes at rainbowmealworms.net are 24 usd plus 40 us shipping.

Theres a place in montana or wyoming or the dakotas that has them cheaper but min order is in the thousands of spikes.

 

[hysteresis]

I sell 85 BBF spikes for 10 CAD plus shipping.

 

[Codexe]

What? 1000 spikes at rainbowmealworms.net are 24 usd plus 40 us shipping.

Theres a place in montana or wyoming or the dakotas that has them cheaper but min order is in the thousands of spikes.

I checked the site out but I only have one mantis so I'd need at most 250 probably monthly and with shipping and conversion rates it comes to 60$ for 250 or about 24 cents each which seems like a lot. It's probably better than crickets to feed even though they're a lot smaller but I can't breed them. idk yet 
shipping's usually what costs most so if I can find as close to local as possible or manage to breed some feeders of my own that'd be best