Josh's Frogs flaked on my feeders... alternatives?
- Thread starter Viceroy
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I would try purchasing some feeders from here. Fruit flies are good for smaller nymphs but the larger ones will certainly prefer something a bit bigger like house flies. You can buy house fly pupae and store them in a fridge for a few weeks, taking them out to hatch (takes 1-3 days room temp) as needed. You can even just put a pupa into the enclosure with the mantis and allow it to hatch out in there for easier feeding. There will be duds every once in a while so I usually put a couple in with each of my mantises to hatch out, replacing them as needed every few days.
I would try purchasing some feeders from here. Fruit flies are good for smaller nymphs but the larger ones will certainly prefer something a bit bigger like house flies. You can buy house fly pupae and store them in a fridge for a few weeks, taking them out to hatch (takes 1-3 days room temp) as needed. You can even just put a pupa into the enclosure with the mantis and allow it to hatch out in there for easier feeding. There will be duds every once in a while so I usually put a couple in with each of my mantises to hatch out, replacing them as needed every few days.
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Try my small stable flies, smaller than house, bigger than hydei. Ghost at that size can take the houes flies too.
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Introvertebrate
Well-known member
Rebecca and spider pharm are great places to get houseflies from in a pinch
if you need a lot of hydei in a pinch, loose flies from fruitfly shop or hydei cultures from rainbow mealworms are my go-tos!
ghosts are odd little buggers. they eat and eat and eat but grow so slowly. talk about an inefficient metabolism!
ok there's nuance there
remember that all organisms use enzymes, which have certain thermal optimae. i bet room temp isn't the best for rearing ghosts; perhaps they'd grow much more rapidly at 85F? not sure
