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d0tmatrix

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Hello! My name is Brennen. I am 26 and live in Seattle. I am new to mantises and need a bit of advice.

I was hoping someone could help me select a mantis species that would most actively feed on small insects like aphids fungus gnats or mites. From what I can tell most mantises prefer larger prey, especially as they grow. Are there any that prefer small insects when grown or spend more time as a nymph feeding on them? I have an environment controlled sealed Indoor garden and want to combine my interest in Insects with pest control. Most environments would not be difficult for me to emulate. I plan on letting them graze in the garden as insects appear and recapturing \ keeping them in a separate tank feeding other insects in the off time or as they mature.

Thank you for your expertise!

 
Welcome.

Good luck with any future mantids.

 
Hello Brennen and welcome to the forum
welcome7.gif


No mantis species will eat mites or fungus. Insects that will however are springtails they eat fungus/mold and isopods (pillbugs) eat mites.

All mantises in the first few instar stages eat fruit flies, but quickly grow to larger prey. There are many mantid species that are 1" or less even as adults, and is one that will likely be what you need to help with gnats and aphids. From the species I've kept some good choices would be Miomantis paykullii or Acromantis japonica.

The best bet is to find what species are currently available for sale and look up the species to find their adult size then choose a species.

 
Hello and welcome to the forum! In my opinion if you looking for a species for your garden id lean towards a native rather than risk having any exotics escape the garden.

 
LAME said:
Hello and welcome to the forum! In my opinion if you looking for a species for your garden id lean towards a native rather than risk having any exotics escape the garden.
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My thoughts too but if you read it is a indoor garden so I doubt an escape would be an issue "I have an environment controlled sealed Indoor garden". ;)

 
CosbyArt said:
My thoughts too but if you read it is a indoor garden so I doubt an escape would be an issue "I have an environment controlled sealed Indoor garden". ;)
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ahh, yeah... Must've read over that ;)

Then that brings alot of small species into play.

 
Thanks so much for the leads :) I will research those types and try it out! I was thinking mites may be too small for any mantis. Are ladybugs or lacewings decent supplemental mantis food? I could release them in at the same time and the mantis would just eat a few if mites were around.

 

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