humans eat 3 meals a day, what about mantids?

[ZoeRipper]

im on my phone, so excuse the spelling and grammar. i feed mine once or twice a day. also i keep records of the time, whether they've eaten by x amount of time, molting and to what instar. its pretty detailed.

 

[yeatzee]

My gosh Tanner! Me point a finger? No way! But my strong objection to this form of husbandry holds and I would still like to know the reason for it. Why should feeding be a "worry"? He would also have to feed the crix for that period of time, and cleaning up the mess of half eaten cricket food and dead crix ( and mantids, probably) once a week would seem to me to cause more work than regular feeding. I think that I am doing a fellow member a service by telling him that we never do this unless we are on vacation, don't you?

Maybe "worrying" was the wrong word... idk lets wait for a response from him

And when I had my ghost collony I would frequently drop a large amount of BB pupae into their large container and not need to feed them (or in other words not "worry" about giving them more food ) for usually a week. I still get the excitment of watching them catch food, but in this case they can eat until they are full..... and finish off whats in there later. No biggie

As for my current mantids all get fed a large sum of fruit flies a day (im a believer in the "tap the FF culture lid, open the lid, tap in some FF's into the container, close lid, DONE" :lol: ).... I always leave enough so that they can eat until stuffed and have some left over. Its not like the flies die a day after being in the container (that is unless they get captured )....

So to the Op.... my mantids eat a lot but only once a day (depending on whats left in the container sometimes every other day)

 

[batsofchaos]

As an ambush predator insect, mantids eat whenever they have prey available and stop eating when they're full. How often a breeder feeds them is largely a human invention and boils down to "feeds them often enough that they stay plump and healthy, but not so often that the feeder insects can pose a threat to the mantids." How often that is varies on species, instar, feeder insect, and breeder preference, much in the same way that "three meals a day" is largely a guideline for people.

 

[Ntsees]

As an ambush predator insect, mantids eat whenever they have prey available and stop eating when they're full. How often a breeder feeds them is largely a human invention and boils down to "feeds them often enough that they stay plump and healthy, but not so often that the feeder insects can pose a threat to the mantids." How often that is varies on species, instar, feeder insect, and breeder preference, much in the same way that "three meals a day" is largely a guideline for people.

+1

Ooooo, I couldn't have said it better.

 

[PhilinYuma]

As an ambush predator insect, mantids eat whenever they have prey available and stop eating when they're full. How often a breeder feeds them is largely a human invention and boils down to "feeds them often enough that they stay plump and healthy, but not so often that the feeder insects can pose a threat to the mantids." How often that is varies on species, instar, feeder insect, and breeder preference, much in the same way that "three meals a day" is largely a guideline for people.

Well, that does sound good, doesn't it? But I don't see it being very helpful to anyone who wants to know what and how often to feed their mantids! Nor do I think for a moment that most mantis keepers vary their feeding schedules according to "species, instar, [&] feeder insect." For a more practical and scientific approach, try David Yager's article in Prete's The Praying Mantids. And if you don't think that it is worth about $20 used from Amazon (shame on you) here is a free copy of the chapter: http://www.mantislab.com/373.pdf Go to p. 313.

 

[batsofchaos]

Well, that does sound good, doesn't it? But I don't see it being very helpful to anyone who wants to know what and how often to feed their mantids! Nor do I think for a moment that most mantis keepers vary their feeding schedules according to "species, instar, [&] feeder insect." For a more practical and scientific approach, try David Yager's article in Prete's The Praying Mantids. And if you don't think that it is worth about $20 used from Amazon (shame on you) here is a free copy of the chapter: http://www.mantislab.com/373.pdf Go to p. 313.

Ah, but I was answering the question hinted at in the thread's title "how often do mantids eat?" as opposed to "how often do you feed your mantids?" which I feel is the more biologically-relevant question, if not the one that most directly affects those in the hobby. Besides, there had been several answers relevant elsewhere in the post.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Ah, but I was answering the question hinted at in the thread's title "how often do mantids eat?" as opposed to "how often do you feed your mantids?" which I feel is the more biologically-relevant question, if not the one that most directly affects those in the hobby. Besides, there had been several answers relevant elsewhere in the post.

Hey, those "hinted at" questions are always the most fun! Just so long as your poetic licence is current!

 

[styrofoamheart]

Don't close yr eyes quite yet! I doubt that any successful breeder tosses some crickets in once a week and forgets about it. If you don't feed, as you suggest, you don't observe (you also don't humidify or clean the enclosure, but that's a separate issue), so you won't know when they are about to molt and are vulnerable to all of those crickets that you put in. Also, crickets will double their size at their weekly molt and the mantids will not, whether or not they molt. And tell us again, why do you keep mantids if you only want to bother with some of them once a week?

i keep 'em because they're awesome!!!

they are also one of the only pets you can count on dying within a year. sometimes i have to go out of town, or get bogged down with other projects and i have limited time to care. sure you can baby them, but with such a short life cycle, and evolution always honing away, i find after just a few generations these things will adapt to much differnt conditions. i've even had ooths hatch on me with no care at all.

 

[styrofoamheart]

Love that first sentence! That's what the hobby is all about. I can lose myself for hours in there.

i can too. only i don't have the time to lose.

 

[PhilinYuma]

i keep 'em because they're awesome!!! they are also one of the only pets you can count on dying within a year. sometimes i have to go out of town, or get bogged down with other projects and i have limited time to care. sure you can baby them, but with such a short life cycle, and evolution always honing away, i find after just a few generations these things will adapt to much differnt conditions. i've even had ooths hatch on me with no care at all.

Fair enough. Some of mine die in a lot less than a year!

Like you, I sometimes have to be away. One good idea is to put bluebottle or HF pupae in the enclosure together with some "ready to eat" food. Roaches tend to last better in a pot or small enclosure than crix, and the Turkestan roach, B. lateralis, for example, cant climb glass or slick plastic walls to bother molting nymphs, but they will hide if they can.

 

[styrofoamheart]

Fair enough. Some of mine die in a lot less than a year!Like you, I sometimes have to be away. One good idea is to put bluebottle or HF pupae in the enclosure together with some "ready to eat" food. Roaches tend to last better in a pot or small enclosure than crix, and the Turkestan roach, B. lateralis, for example, cant climb glass or slick plastic walls to bother molting nymphs, but they will hide if they can.

that's great info! thx!!!

i have done the fly pupae thing but i may give some of these other things a try.

 

[styrofoamheart]

As an ambush predator insect, mantids eat whenever they have prey available and stop eating when they're full. How often a breeder feeds them is largely a human invention and boils down to "feeds them often enough that they stay plump and healthy, but not so often that the feeder insects can pose a threat to the mantids." How often that is varies on species, instar, feeder insect, and breeder preference, much in the same way that "three meals a day" is largely a guideline for people.

so true! these are all just guidelines for sure. sometimes i get a mantid that is a little dim, and won't seem to eat for any reason.

 

[styrofoamheart]

Ah, but I was answering the question hinted at in the thread's title "how often do mantids eat?" as opposed to "how often do you feed your mantids?" which I feel is the more biologically-relevant question, if not the one that most directly affects those in the hobby. Besides, there had been several answers relevant elsewhere in the post.

yes. how often do they eat is the heart of the issue. i've had love struck males that will forget to eat forever.