Best of Blessing to your work there Tier, and hope you get that PHD
Idolomantis - almost adult
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swords
Well-known member
Amazing series of images over all 4 pages!
About the bees, is that necessary for this species? I am more and more allergic to bee stings each time I get stung, never used to be as a kid. But anyway, if these guys MUST have bees to eat I think this species is out for me. If you choose to feed bees instead of flies why?
About the bees, is that necessary for this species? I am more and more allergic to bee stings each time I get stung, never used to be as a kid. But anyway, if these guys MUST have bees to eat I think this species is out for me. If you choose to feed bees instead of flies why?
Hi
Thnky you all.
I never got stung by a bee or wasp or anything like that, so I do not know if I am maybe reacting allergic to it.
I am also not sure about the importance of bees as food for Idolomantis. Maybe they are not necessary, but I for myself will offer them. I know from experience that Gongylus fed only on flies do fine. But I know a lot of Idolomantis in captivity have big problems, especially with adult moulting. Maybe the bees offer extra-power which may important (or even kind of necessary) for the last and final moultings. Who knows. This species is so expensive and so delicate and susceptible to faults that I decided bees are a must for mine. But I use 95% flies as food for Idolomantis, bees are offered once a month or so, in cold winter month there are no bees available here in Germany anyway.
regards,
Stefan
Thnky you all.
I never got stung by a bee or wasp or anything like that, so I do not know if I am maybe reacting allergic to it.
I am also not sure about the importance of bees as food for Idolomantis. Maybe they are not necessary, but I for myself will offer them. I know from experience that Gongylus fed only on flies do fine. But I know a lot of Idolomantis in captivity have big problems, especially with adult moulting. Maybe the bees offer extra-power which may important (or even kind of necessary) for the last and final moultings. Who knows. This species is so expensive and so delicate and susceptible to faults that I decided bees are a must for mine. But I use 95% flies as food for Idolomantis, bees are offered once a month or so, in cold winter month there are no bees available here in Germany anyway.
regards,
Stefan
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spawn
Well-known member
Glad to see you're still maintaning a high standard of living for your mantids tier. I recall from the past you're one of the few keepers who looks out for the mantids in such a way that best matches their natural living quarters. I applaud your great work and experiences with these animals. You raise the bar for all of us. And beautiful pictures 
revmdn
Well-known member
Mine are finally big enough to offer bee's. I'll find some today, thanks.
Mine are L4 and could probably take a small bee. However, only small bees I could catch would be honeybees but it is a big no no to kill those. So far they are doing fine on flies. I will catch some moths and things for them though. So far I have had no issues with them.
revmdn
Well-known member
How about dusting the flies with the pollen and honey powder mix?
I feed my flies honey and pollen. I used to dust with pollen so maybe I will pick that back up.
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revmdn
Well-known member
I haven't done that in a while, I should start again.
Colorcham427
Well-known member
I have a bunch of Idolomantises now, 16 of them are BIG L3s, possibly heading to L4 already?? And 10 of them are freshly moulted L2s. Still have a trio of sub adults waiting for them to molt!
I love dusting with bee pollen. I keep a container filled with it. I get the finest powder from shaking the container really hard and fast. From doing that, on the sides of the container, the finest powder is there. I simply scoop it off and toss it in with the cup of "sleepy flies" :lol: to shake around and get them covered in it.
What is this honey powder? Anyplace I can buy it in bulk? I am speaking about ebay or some source such as that! B)
Tier:
Your Idolomantis are so beautiful. keeping them at 28 °C at day would be ok with Idolomantis?
About your bees... how do you keep them alive? cause I catch some bees outside.... and if the mantids don´t eat them, the bees tend to stop flying and then in few hours( I think minutes) they die!!!.
When they stop flying I use them for other mantids like Coronatus that they eat almost everything.
saludos
Your Idolomantis are so beautiful. keeping them at 28 °C at day would be ok with Idolomantis?
About your bees... how do you keep them alive? cause I catch some bees outside.... and if the mantids don´t eat them, the bees tend to stop flying and then in few hours( I think minutes) they die!!!.
When they stop flying I use them for other mantids like Coronatus that they eat almost everything.
saludos
Try the fridge for the wasps and bees, it really slows them down and they last days, they are good for the orchids.
On another note, I sell the honey powder, this is not the ground that is little balls, this is powder.
No grinding or smashing necessary.
My idols are wondering if they will make it to adult and then who will they be married too? They are going on 3rd and 4th instar and already looking to be betrothed to new bloodlines, any takers wanting to share let me know!
On another note, I sell the honey powder, this is not the ground that is little balls, this is powder.
My idols are wondering if they will make it to adult and then who will they be married too? They are going on 3rd and 4th instar and already looking to be betrothed to new bloodlines, any takers wanting to share let me know!
Hi
My bee keeper/honey producer told me to keep them warm, at around 26°C. They have to be fed with honey or 50:50 water/sugar. Additionally, the need pure water. They will last only a few days. Without this treatment, they will live for one or two days only.
Rick is 100% right when he is mentioning that honey bees should not offered nowadays, because of the colony collapse disorder. But I guess it is fine to offer them if your local bee keeper has no problems with colony collapse disorder, but has a lot of overplus bees. Maybe wasps are a good choice?
Do not go out and collect honey bees in the wild. Right. In Germany, most of the solitair wild living bees are protected by law. Some wasps, like hornets, are protected by law in Germany, too, if I remember it correctly.
Today I read an article when a was sitting in the waiting room at the dentist. It was about the honey bee colony collapse disorder. It said that some people say the Varroa mite is causing this problem, other say big concerns are causing this problem because of new insectizides. The new poison is not sprayed on the plants, but the seeds are contaminated. Thus, with growing, the poison will be present inside the whole plant. Anyway, it may effect the environment...
regards
edit: Mexxico ghost: For IGM 25, 28°C is too cold. They need 30°C. Maybe it will take a while, but you will loose all ii they are IGM 25 and if you not raise temperatures.
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Once I asked a bee keeper to sell me some bees a week, but he told me that it was going to be more expensive sending me the bees than the bees and that I might try to catch them where I live :blink: , but reading what you say I´ll try to find someone who want to sell bees, cause I catched last week about 30 bees, and I think is the amount I need by week (between 30 and 40). Also I´ll should try to catch better butterflies or moths.
Saludos
Arturo
Saludos
Arturo
