Entomo-logic
Well-known member
So the other day I was cleaning the bathroom at my apartment and I noticed that my roommates dog had spilled some kibble into it's water bowl and it appeared to have been there for what looked like a few days. Upon investigation of the water bowl I found some wriggling little creatures in the bowl at first glance they looked like some sort of Nematode (which disgusting vertebrates are prone to getting) but at a second glance I IDed the creatures as some sort of Dipteran (fly) larvae. I ran to the kitchen to get a container to try to culture the larvae but my roommate decided to change the water in the 30 seconds it took me to get back to the bathroom with my container. I have done some sleuthing and found that the mystery larvae were Psychodidae (moth fly) larvae, which are common house hold pests and feed on decaying "Gunk" trapped in sink drains. I have since been wandering if the adult Psychodids wold make good feeders for my mantids??? I have set out a container in the bathroom that contain a few pieces of kibble in water hoping to get some more larvae so I might try to culture them as a feeder, as they seem easy enough to raise in mass quantities. So I guess after the long winded story I pose the question... Has/Does anyone use moth flies as a feeder? and has anyone ever reared them in captivity (outside of their bathroom or kitchen sink drain)?
