Hi, last year I managed to keep alive a male and female Chinese mantis and they reproduced and my baby mantises just hatched (thanks to the wonderful support and advice from many on this forum!). I do not have fruit flies on hand and I just ordered some but the seller said they are fresh and therefore I must wait 6 to 10 days, after they arrive, before I feed them. Im not sure why, but am wondering if its safe for the mantises to wait that long, or if I should order some riper FF as well.Any advice?
How soon do you feed the newly hatched mantises
- Thread starter Alimama
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hysteresis
Well-known member
The culture needs to reproduce to be sustainable. Go and grab a couple more cultures to feed off. Leave your original one to reproduce.
MantisGirl13
Well-known member
Do you have a PetSmart or PetCo near you? They carry producing cultures, even if they are a bit overpriced.
- MantisGirl13
- MantisGirl13
hysteresis
Well-known member
I wonder if PetSmart Canada carries them. I'll need some pretty quick. My culture won't yet be producing by mid week, and I'll need to feed i2s and i3s.
Thanks for the tip, @MantisGirl13
Thanks for the tip, @MantisGirl13
MantisGirl13
Well-known member
Digger
Well-known member
Alimama,
I've had a long history of hatching T. sinensis - and have just had 3 wild ooths hatch in the last week (yielding about 500 pups). This species can do ok for the first 2 - 4 days without food. Any longer than that and they will start eating (cannibalizing) each other. Make sure you give them wingless Drosophila melanogaster ("gasters") - the smaller of the FF family. These FF will be appropriate through L3 then you'll want to switch to the larger Drosophila Hydei FF. If you can find FFs at PetSmart or Petco, they will be the smaller "gasters." You can find producing cultures sold at vendors like "Josh's Frogs" These come with hundreds of FFs already hatched and many more in larval form. From this you can create your own culture in a separate container). Once the nymphs outgrow D. Hydei, you'll have to move on to houseflies, Turkistan Roaches (Shelfordella lateralis), or small banded crickets. Once your pets are larger, it's great fun to get them used to eating from your fingers (or tweezers). Mealworms are great for this. Snip off an end of the mealworm (so it oozes yummy) and very slowly approach the mantis (head on). They may be skittish at first. If you can get any of the goo on the mantis, they'll taste it and you'll have an immediate friend. You can do this with honey too - but use honey only as an occasional treat. Hope this helps.
I've had a long history of hatching T. sinensis - and have just had 3 wild ooths hatch in the last week (yielding about 500 pups). This species can do ok for the first 2 - 4 days without food. Any longer than that and they will start eating (cannibalizing) each other. Make sure you give them wingless Drosophila melanogaster ("gasters") - the smaller of the FF family. These FF will be appropriate through L3 then you'll want to switch to the larger Drosophila Hydei FF. If you can find FFs at PetSmart or Petco, they will be the smaller "gasters." You can find producing cultures sold at vendors like "Josh's Frogs" These come with hundreds of FFs already hatched and many more in larval form. From this you can create your own culture in a separate container). Once the nymphs outgrow D. Hydei, you'll have to move on to houseflies, Turkistan Roaches (Shelfordella lateralis), or small banded crickets. Once your pets are larger, it's great fun to get them used to eating from your fingers (or tweezers). Mealworms are great for this. Snip off an end of the mealworm (so it oozes yummy) and very slowly approach the mantis (head on). They may be skittish at first. If you can get any of the goo on the mantis, they'll taste it and you'll have an immediate friend. You can do this with honey too - but use honey only as an occasional treat. Hope this helps.
