how to hatch and feed Flies the easy way

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Our Commander in Chief has pretty impressive house fly skills, although I don't think that one got fed to a mantis. If a House Fly lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, does that make it a White House Fly?

 
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I am having a low hatchrate as well. I store them in the fridge then put them in the flatter cups with a screen lid . :S

 
I do something similar with my flies, but hatch them in a thin plastic half pint cup, with cheesecloth over the top and a stopper low on the side. Flies hatch out (sometimes) and i just paste some honey water on the cheese cloth. then for feeding time, take out the stoppers on the cup'o'flies and the mantis cup, push the holes together and gently tap, the flies just go in, no escapees.

Only issue i'm having is getting the flies to hatch, I bought a half pint of castor maggots, store them in the fridge and I'm finding the hatch rate to be very very low, more so as time goes on. Anyone got any tips to make my supplies last longer?
Love your avatar, Glitch. (Bug people **are** a strange bunch).. :)

 
Love your avatar, Glitch. (Bug people **are** a strange bunch).. :)
Hehe, cheers, i love my job/hobby. Just applied for Faceoff on the SyFy channel, so if anyone's in LA, come show me around. :p

 
I am having a low hatchrate as well. I store them in the fridge then put them in the flatter cups with a screen lid . :S
I would hatch the flies sooner and keep those in the fridge, taking them out to feed your mantis and to re-feed them honey then put them back in the fridge as soon as you can and they should last weeks that way, which is better than the pupae never hatching even though they seem to be able to do it in nature easy enough? :)

Hope that helps...

 
Didn't I make one of my own thread? I can't even remember, but I remember a lot of back and forth with Philinyuma. Search is limited to May 2012. Maybe a mod can help find it, because it is/was probably old.

 
@Angelofdeath: "I feel strongly that gut loading the flies before feeding them to your mantis is very important, I know some will hatch the flies in the enclosure with the mantis, which ends up being poor nutrition for them. That's great, Nick. I feel that "gut loading" tritrophic feeders is a waste of time, so we can have a nice discussion.

I guess that i should start with my usual whinge about gut loading insects in general. This is one of the many practices that have been transferred, without much rhyme or reason, from the reptile hobby, where "gut loading" is used to provide the captive animal with minerals and vitamins that it would not normally get in captivity. No such issue obtains in the rearing of insects

An even stronger argument can be made against using honey as the food supplement. The mantis already has a good store of sugar stored as glycogen in its fat body. Is there any evidence that this is not enough? Also, of course, the insect's soluble sugar, trehalose, does not help growth, it provides quick energy, particularly for the flight muscles. Alas , most mantis nymphs don't fly much. Here is part of an Eclogue by Theocritus that deals with this very issue:

"Why does the bee like carbs, Papa?"

"Well, they are useful things

That give the bee the energy

To flap her tiny wings."

"And do they help her thrive, and grow,

And metamoph her oses?"

"No those are proteins, silly goose.

And lipids drive ketosis."

On the other hand, flies, though to a lesser degree than most bees, are hirsute, and these hairs trap pollen, which can contain up to 20% protein and other yummy stuff like vitamins, so i suggest that anyone seeking to supplement their mantids' diet should consider shaking their flies in a little pollen or yen's stuff in a plastic bag like Shake 'n Bake". :D
Very good point, but are there no trace elements of pollen in the honey? It is winter and no pollen to be had outside here , wait no active bugs for feeders either, wow winter sucks. Yen's blend is a safe bet but I use 100% pollen for dusting, just didn't mention that thus far. I see it's my turn for philifacation... :p
Not at all, my friend, and at least I know that when I discuss something with you, I won't be on the wrong end of some strange curse or malediction! Interesting point about pollen in the honey. There should be, but there often isn't. Some beekeepers see this as another conspiracy by China to smuggle in honey via other countries (analysts can identify where a particular type of pollen came from) but it is due to US customer demand. Apparently, just as we like our apples waxed and polished and our vinegar strained and pasteurized, we like our honey to be clear and sparkly and free from "contaminants" like pollen. So look for cloudy honey, and you might luck out!
When buying honey for mantis feeding, here is what to look for:

  • Unfiltered or minimally filtered. Honey can be filtered through tight weaves many times, or a larger weave to just make sure no bee parts may be in there. Filtering can removed the pollen that may be in the honey comb and the pollen that may be in with the honey.
  • Unheated or minimally heated. When it is heated, it loses some of its nutrients.
  • Organic, if at all possible. Beekeepers don't have much control over where their bees forage, but if they place their hives in the middle of a 2 mile radius of organic flowers, the chances are pretty high that it will be organic. To be labeled as "organic", beekeepers must submit a testing of their honey to a lab and have it come back with a super low percentage of pesticides, herbicides, etc.
The best way to buy honey is to find a local beekeeper. Then you're supporting local bees and their keepers, and you know where your honey is coming from. You also have someone to ask about how they process their honey. You can also see if they have pollen avaliable for you to buy.

Another way that you can buy honey is in the comb. It is wrapped in its original, natural way. The color of the wax doesn't matter - wax cappings can vary from dark brown to white and it just depends on the colony of bees. Then you can open a cell of honey up with a toothpick and feed it to your mantids.

Remember to always keep honey in a closed, airtight container. Honey absorbs water (it has been reduced from a very wet nectar to having less than 18.5% water) and will ferment when the water percentage is over about 18.5%.

Pollen should be frozen to keep it at it's freshest. It will stay fresh for up to 3 years, but numbers vary based on the source.

 

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