L1 creo food

[Fruitflyslayer]

Can L1 creobroters take on Hydei? Or will I need mels?

 

[psyconiko]

Yes they can take on Hydei.

 

[sporeworld]

+1

I keep mine on hydei for the first 3 instars, then switch to Blue Bottles. They like little crickets at that age, too,

If I have mels, I feed them these (as well) for L1 and L2 - just to kind of top them off.

 

[agent A]

I've seen even the tiny C.gemmatus take on hydei at L1 and green bottles at L4

They are relatively strong for their minute size

 

[Termite48]

For my Creos, I feed Hydeis from the start and through L-3, but at L-3 they are given HFs and at L-4 they are taking down BBs. Not all are that brave, but they can do it. The smaller guys sit and watch their brave commrads and learn the ropes. I just watched a big BB as he was snared by an L-4. the BB made that buzzing sound for a full two minutes and it was so exciting to all watching that a nearby sub-adult Popa spurca trembled from head to tail.

 

[agent A]

+1 to what rich said

when i reared gemmatus, i had 2 distinct bloodlines at 2 different times, 1 from d17oug18, and 1 from yen, yen's bloodline was the second bloodline i kept

with each bloodline, i got presub or subadult nymphs, they matured, mated, and i had L1 nymphs once for each bloodline, because when they matured they failed to reproduce, but this is irrelevant

I used mels with the L1 nymphs the second time around, here's why

the first time around, the ooth took a long time to hatch, so my melanogaster culture died, and i only had hydei while some of the nymphs were strong enough to handle hydei, others couldnt hold on to the larger type of fruitfly

and since i only had hydei and it was too cold to catch mosquitoes, only those that ate hydei ate at all and survived to L2, where they all handled hydei without issue

the second time around i used both, that way the ones who couldnt eat hydei though there was nothing wrong with them, could eat mels and survive and i would have more nymphs/adults in the end

at L2 they all were eating hydei and by L4 they were eating bottleflies as big as themselves though it took a while to kill one and i once saw 2 L4 males eating the same greenbottle

so it is kind of up to you, they can eat hydei, though a few may have trouble and you may have a slightly higher L1 mortality rate like i did by using hydei alone at L1

however, i notice that creobroter are prolific breeders and any L1 nymphs lost will certainly be made up for when the females reach adulthood and produce nymphs of their own

 

[itzjustjeff]

What is the general rule as far as feeding goes? Should we feed until the abdomen is nice and puffy? I'm scared of overfeeding

 

[lunarstorm]

I generally feed all of my mantids every other day. Overfeeding is a real concern, you can use the search function to take a look at some of the veteran members' thoughts on this (Phil aka "PhilinYuma" has commented on this fairly recently if my memory serves).

 

[itzjustjeff]

I'm reading it now; Thanks for the info!

 

[Psychobunny]

Either type FF is fine.

I put 4 or 5 FF's in there so they will have snacks through the day

Even when they are small, L2, they will take house flies with no problem.

 

[Psychobunny]

I generally feed all of my mantids every other day. Overfeeding is a real concern, you can use the search function to take a look at some of the veteran members' thoughts on this (Phil aka "PhilinYuma" has commented on this fairly recently if my memory serves).

I feed anything under L4 one prey item a day. Past L4, it's every other day. When full adult, about twice a week I will

throw in a good sized roach.