New to Mantis - Feeding advice please

[UKMantid]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping to get a bit of advice on feeding Ghost Mantis. From what I've been reading, fruit flies should be sufficient to feed them until L5-L6. After this I was going to try a mixture of small crickets and bluebottle flies. Can I first ask if this is correct and secondly, with the bluebottles I was going to buy some maggots from a local fishing shop and put them in the fridge, removing 2-3 at a time to put into the mantis enclosure and allow to pupate. Is keeping them in the fridge and throwing a few maggots into the enclosure every couple of days the right way to continue feeding them? Or should I be putting 2-3 in EVERY day?

Many Thanks,

Chris

 

[Connor]

Hello Chris. I believe ghost mantis can actually start eating houseflies and bluebottle flies around L-4. As far as maggots go, I would just get a shipment of pupae from a website. Sometimes getting from maggot to fly takes a while and sometimes fails. It would be a lot easier to just get the pupae imo. Small crickets should be fine but I've heard many horror stories, as well as successful stories of people using crickets, but since of the mixed opinions I shy away from them.

 

[Serle]

Chris & Connor   I loath crickets as much as the next (smelly little bastards) only mantids can't resist them .  I do ad them to a diet of meal worms (pupa & beetles) , drosophila and wild caught feeders of all kinds...........  S

 

[steeve]

Hi!

Ghosts can eat all those things, but personally I think giving a little fly every other day is easier than dealing with 20 fruit flies. My l2 ghost will happily munch on a house fly and my l4 catches bluebottles likes its nothing.

Like Connor said, buying them as pupae is a lot easier. It takes weeks for them to pupate and hatch. Also be cautious buying insects from tackle shops because they may be bleached or treated with chemicals in some way (since they're not meant to be 'food grade').

To feed my guys I typically put a half dozen or so pupae in a cup and let them hatch then feed them over the course of a few days. It's up to you how often to feed; after a short while you'll be able to tell if your mantis is full or hungry by looking at their abdomen. Mine take one fly every other day, but sometimes they'll eat two or even half. I sort of play it by ear depending on how many flies I have. You want your mantises to be plump; usually they'll either throw up or drop the fly if they're feeling full and you can feed again next time they look thin. (A great illustration!)

 

[UKMantid]

Hi all,

Thanks for this info. A quick question about catching your own feeder flies. Is this a bit of a risk because of the possibility of having picked up some pesticides or chemicals from house cleaning products and insecticides etc? I'd personally be a bit wary about doing so.

My second question is. Do you guys know of any very small fridges? I'm talking just big enough to store a small tub of pupae and safe to leave on 24/7. I have a lodger renting my spare bedroom and it would be preferable to store the feed elsewhere rather than in my main fridge.

Many Thanks,

Chris