Newbie With Basic Questions

[ThaRatChick]

Total newbie on raising feeder insects, and even having mantids. So hopefully you guys can help me

I'm planning on ordering cultures from mantisplace.

How many cultures should we get? We are getting 6 baby mantids, I'll find out the age tomorrow when we get them. We'll buy some FFs from petco to tide us over for awhile. Is there anything else we need to get other than the cultures? A list would be nice! Also (i know, it should be in housing section), whiat would you suggest for housing? We'll get some simple containers tomorrow until we get everything figured out.

 

[massaman]

Go with a culture or two to start with and you can make your own cultures as well to continue the fruit fly population and its easy to do!

You can get cheap cultures of fruit flies online too from josh's frogs that is already producing or freshly made!

As far as housing goes once they are sub adult to adult you can put them in critter keepers if you decide to or place them in small rectangle,round or hex shaped aquariums!

 

[Rick]

Paul did a good job of covering the fruit fly issue. I recommend buying some 32 oz insect cups (same type mantids can live in) to make new ff cultures in. Also get some fruit fly medium. I prefer the type sold by carolina.com. When they outgrow the ff's you will neeed to move up to house or bluebottle flies, both are readily available.

For now I would get the typical 32 oz insect cup for housing. These are the best in my opinion. Once they outgrow those you have many choices. Critter keepers were mentioned but I feel those are a poor choice for mantids. I use the small 2.5 gallon aquariums with screen lid. These can be sectioned off and three mantids can live in one tank.

 

[ThaRatChick]

We decided to get either cups, like said, or some type of tupperware and cut a hole in the top to cover in window mesh.

When they grow up, we have a twenty gallon that can be sectioned off (somehow...) for them to live in. And we can always go out and buy other stuff!

 

[ThaRatChick]

I wanted to ask, at what age (generally) do they start outgrowing the FFs? How aften do they moult?

 

[ismart]

I wanted to ask, at what age (generally) do they start outgrowing the FFs? How aften do they moult?

What species of mantis are you getting? Depending on what species you have will give us a better idear on how to answer these questions properly. If they are chinese? Then at L3 they can start taking down house flies. I think it's like 7 or 8 moults to reach adulthood. I cant seem to remember exactly?

 

[massaman]

some species may have more then seven molts I think!

 

[Rick]

Molting frequency depends on temperatures and food availability. You can expect about every couple weeks when young but it will slow down as they age.

 

[massaman]

you can actually use the tank if you put in plenty of soil or any substrate of your choice and plenty of sticks or branches for them to climb on and just pour in the tank fruit flies and if there is a lid cover it up and well give them plenty of room to molt and to hunt for their food and they can explore as well!

 

[Rick]

I wouldn't even consider moving them into a large divided tank until they are off of fruit flies. The 32 oz insect cups will suffice for a good while.

 

[ThaRatChick]

We got them today! Little buggers, the guy said they hatched on the 11th. So they are almost a week old, and he said they had one moult already. That makes them L1 right?

We only got 4. We got 4 square tupperware things, I think they are around 32 oz... We put window screen on the top after cutting some out, and them realized the flies could get out. So we added paper towel over it. We put a little bit of lemon on the bottom of each enclosure to keep the flies in as well, is that okay? We just kind of dumped a bunch of flies in each, and they are eating a bunch! We named them Chuck Norris, Juanita, Pedro, and Carl. (Awesome names right lol.) They are chinese. They are so teeny! I'll post pics soon (when my dad lends me his old camera, mine doesn't do macro well).

We have a little setup with a dimish light on them (25w i believe) that we will turn off at night. Is that good for them? We got distilled water for the sprayer too, how often should we spray them?

 

[Rick]

You don't need lemon in there. If the flies can escape they will escape. I would add several flies per mantis every other day. Keep an eye on their abdomens. They should stay plump. If the abdomens get flat or nearly so, feed a little more. The light is not necessary but it won't hurt anything either. I would lightly mist the inside of the enclosures at least once a day. Since you have them under a lamp it may be a good idea to mist them once in the morning and once in the evening. If they have molted once they are L2.

 

[ThaRatChick]

We are just putting in as many flies as they will eat, plenty in there for them. Do we hanve to mist the inside? We have been misting the paper towel on top.

Thanks for clarifing molt stuff.

 

[Rick]

We are just putting in as many flies as they will eat, plenty in there for them. Do we hanve to mist the inside? We have been misting the paper towel on top.

Thanks for clarifing molt stuff.

Well you want them to have access to the water. You also want it to provide humdity.

 

[ThaRatChick]

Ok, we'll open them to mist.

 

[ThaRatChick]

Here is the setup (i did put a strip of paper towel in each for them to climb on after the pic)-

 

[ThaRatChick]

I can't see the pic so ill post it on photobucket and up here-

 

[massaman]

you going to need some sticks for them to climb on and remove the lemons from the mantis enclosures being that the fruit flies only use in the mantis enclosure is to be eaten by the mantis!Dont really need to use the light personally but thats a personal preference or if the species is one that requires alot of temperature and humidity and with mine I just give them regular lighting and since I got windows the light that also comes in during the day is good enough!

 

[Rick]

Very small mantids don't normally need sticks except for a few specific species. Just make sure they can hang from the lid since that is where they will spend most of their time. My only concern is the height of your enclosures. Mantids need vertical height for molting. Since they are L2 they will be ok for a molt or two but after that they will need more space. Keep an eye on how dry it gets with the lamp that close. Those do ok at room temps so it really isn't needed unless you keep it cold in there. A layer of paper towel on the bottom of each enclosure should also be added. That way you can moisten it with your water and it will release humidity for awhile.