My cousin, who is a habitual yard sale fanatic, supposedly has a device for blowing bugs into a bottle/jug, but I haven't seen it yet. I was going to go by some horse stalls and see about setting it up, but I think I'll avoid horses that have been dewormed or had other antibiotics lately.
As to transfering, I'm considering, not tested yet, one of those little vacuum cleaners for computer keyboards, and hooking it to a tube with a sponge between it and the flies catch chamber/tube, then suck a few into the tube and cap it with a piece of sponge.
I want to see if there's an output on the little vacuum that I can use to push the flies out of the chamber/tube, into the mantis enclosure then.
The thing that limits the vacuum on a real vacuum cleaner, like my moms, a sleave that covers a hole in the suction tube that can be opened or closed to limit or let full suction be applied, is why I am considering this setup. When the amount or suction necessary is found, I can set the 'limiter' and pull them in, then close the 'limiter' and blow them out.
I think that using another smaller tube, that has a sponge to cap it, in the end of the larger sponge that caps the exit of the catch tube, would be nice, so you'd have a buffer area that the flies may not enter and would give time to uncap and insert the small tube into the mantis enclosure hole, preferably into a hole in the sponge that plugs the mantis enclosure so it seals around the tube, but with my luck the flies would all be forced against that sponge and die pinned to that sponge. I'm such a lucky guy
What I'd like to do is just use a syringe and suck them into it, then 'inject' them into the mantis house, no infringements intended Rebecca B)
OR
I'm curious if a waterbed thingy, that pulls water from the bed or aquarium by vacuum created by running through a venturi type device, can be adapted to be used with some blowing or forced air device, to pull the flies in one port, then push them out when attached to the other port.
Some type of memory sponge that would allow the 'sucker pump'
into a draw hole, that would close and not allow flies out when the device is removed, would be excellent. Even some normal sponge may suffice for this application.