"No Grandma.. that isn't how you do it.."

[Plex]

So I'm going up north this summer and have some other loose plans for trips, so Grandma (usually the least likely person in my household to offer something like this) offered to learn how to care for the mantids for while I'm gone- which made me estatic because that means I can actually make solid camping trip/insect hunting plans now that I have a mantis sitter!
So I sit her down to teach her feeding and watering the other day so she has plenty of time to get the hang of things over the next few months.

... good thing I started months early, I realized, after she almost let hundreds of Hydei Fruit Flies loose by ripping the lid off before I could explain to her how to go about feeding FF to nymphs, and enough actually did flutter out that a couple hours later we were finding and exterminating hydei in our kitchen!

Then I told her to lightly mist for watering and showed her with one mantis enclosure... one of my poor ghosts has now experienced what had to be Armageddon-like floods in her eyes filling the bottoms of her enclosures due to grandma misunderstanding the word 'lightly'. :boat:

... At least she tried and put forth what I think was an honest effort, though.

Next lesson: How to convince a troublesome nymph to return to it's enclosure after making a grand escape. Wish her the best of luck. :lol:

 

[patrickfraser]

God bless all the grandmas of the world.

 

[agent A]

Lol with mine i had to first make her unafraid of them

 

[Bug Trader]

Just maybe you can have everything on hf, bbf and bigger to cut out the hydei, FF is where most get into trouble they can become a mess really quick.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Hahaha grandmas are the best. The first thing both of mine said when I showed them one of my resident mantises was, "It's so tiny." Apparently the mantises back in their days were quite large. ^.~

 

[twolfe]

That is pretty cool that your grandma is willing to do that. My niece's daughter would likely be the only one in my family who would be willing to help.

How long will you be gone at a time? I set up a self feeding system that works well for a week. My neighbor only has to mist them for me.

 

[Plex]

Lol with mine i had to first make her unafraid of them

My aunt is still afraid of them... at least the larger ones, the itty bitty creos she doesn't mind though.

Just maybe you can have everything on hf, bbf and bigger to cut out the hydei, FF is where most get into trouble they can become a mess really quick.

Yeah, I'm hoping that most if not all are going to be on hf or larger by then, but with my luck I'll have an ooth hatch right before or during a trip.

Hahaha grandmas are the best. The first thing both of mine said when I showed them one of my resident mantises was, "It's so tiny." Apparently the mantises back in their days were quite large. ^.~

My grandparents both said the same thing when I got my first nymph, they was shocked it was so tiny- apparently all either have ever seen previously were adult female mutant-huge Chinese mantids or something!

That is pretty cool that your grandma is willing to do that. My niece's daughter would likely be the only one in my family who would be willing to help.

How long will you be gone at a time? I set up a self feeding system that works well for a week. My neighbor only has to mist them for me.

Usually between four days and a week and a half for the trips, I would definitely appreciate it if you could help me figure out a system like that for while I'm gone to minimize what grandma will have to do in way of care. It is cool that my grandma is willing to do it, though I will say with her history with feelings about most insects I was surprised at the offer!

 

[Mvalenz]

Cool g-ma.

I wouldn't mind knowing that feeding system either

 

[twolfe]

Usually between four days and a week and a half for the trips, I would definitely appreciate it if you could help me figure out a system like that for while I'm gone to minimize what grandma will have to do in way of care. It is cool that my grandma is willing to do it, though I will say with her history with feelings about most insects I was surprised at the offer!

For smaller nymphs in net enclosures, I put a producing ff culture in the net. I replace the regular lid with a lid with a couple of small holes in the lid. It helps to put an overcrowded culture in the enclosure because more flies will come out. For 80 ounce enclosures, I make mini cultures ahead of time in 4 ounce portion cups and before I leave, I replace the lid with one with a hole in it. Usually when the culture gets really crowded, the flies want to escape.

For larger mantids I buy blue bottle spikes about two weeks before I leave and put them in the refrigerator. Starting about 8 - 10 days in advance, I take out the number needed to feed all the mantids every day and put them in a deli cup. After a week I'll have 7 deli cups on the counter. Then the day before I leave, I take the appropriate number of pupae from each deli cup and put in the enclosure. The idea behind this is that flies will continually hatch (hopefully each day) while you are away. I actually tested this before a trip to see how well it worked. Flies hatched in most enclosures every day as planned. However, heat lamps do have an impact. For my b mendica enclosures, sometimes there is a lower hatch rate or the flies hatch faster. So, I always put extra in their enclosures and put them as far away from the heat as possible. Otherwise, it works very well. You need to start with spikes and not pupae. (I also feed the mantids all well before I leave and put a few extra flies in the enclosure.)

Putting a bunch of flies that have already hatched doesn't seem to work well. I've done this for weekend camping trips. Too many flies can bother the mantids. But what you can do if you use this method is to put a 16 ounce deli cup with some type of fly food/media. Put a hole on the lid so that the flies can come and go. This way they live longer, and when they are in the deli cup, they aren't bothering the mantids.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I never had a granny, and even if I did, she would of not liked bugs! :tt2: Dont forget to bring her back a pretty for being a good granny!

 

[Plex]

For smaller nymphs in net enclosures, I put a producing ff culture in the net. I replace the regular lid with a lid with a couple of small holes in the lid. It helps to put an overcrowded culture in the enclosure because more flies will come out. For 80 ounce enclosures, I make mini cultures ahead of time in 4 ounce portion cups and before I leave, I replace the lid with one with a hole in it. Usually when the culture gets really crowded, the flies want to escape.

For larger mantids I buy blue bottle spikes about two weeks before I leave and put them in the refrigerator. Starting about 8 - 10 days in advance, I take out the number needed to feed all the mantids every day and put them in a deli cup. After a week I'll have 7 deli cups on the counter. Then the day before I leave, I take the appropriate number of pupae from each deli cup and put in the enclosure. The idea behind this is that flies will continually hatch (hopefully each day) while you are away. I actually tested this before a trip to see how well it worked. Flies hatched in most enclosures every day as planned. However, heat lamps do have an impact. For my b mendica enclosures, sometimes there is a lower hatch rate or the flies hatch faster. So, I always put extra in their enclosures and put them as far away from the heat as possible. Otherwise, it works very well. You need to start with spikes and not pupae. (I also feed the mantids all well before I leave and put a few extra flies in the enclosure.)

Putting a bunch of flies that have already hatched doesn't seem to work well. I've done this for weekend camping trips. Too many flies can bother the mantids. But what you can do if you use this method is to put a 16 ounce deli cup with some type of fly food/media. Put a hole on the lid so that the flies can come and go. This way they live longer, and when they are in the deli cup, they aren't bothering the mantids.

That is actually quite brilliant! I'll definitely try that out before summer and then set things up before leaving on each trip, it'll definitely make grandma happy that all she'll have to do is mist and watch for molts and keep an eye on any ootheca that may be here by then.

I never had a granny, and even if I did, she would of not liked bugs! :tt2: Dont forget to bring her back a pretty for being a good granny!

I will definitely bring her back a pretty for being a good granny, the little shops up there will be having a visit from me looking for a pretty to bring home!

 

[Mvalenz]

I never had a granny, and even if I did, she would of not liked bugs! :tt2: Dont forget to bring her back a pretty for being a good granny!

Awww. I have an extra granny you can have

 

[ScienceGirl]

Very sweet. ^_^ It almost seems easier to stay at home w/ the mantids v.s. training someone inexperienced to care for the little exotic insects.

An idea? Maybe you could set your granny up an account on MantidForum. That way, if she has any questions your buddies on here can help. And don't forget that long page of emergency contacts!!!

Have a fun trip!

 

[Plex]

Very sweet. ^_^ It almost seems easier to stay at home w/ the mantids v.s. training someone inexperienced to care for the little exotic insects.

An idea? Maybe you could set your granny up an account on MantidForum. That way, if she has any questions your buddies on here can help. And don't forget that long page of emergency contacts!!!

Have a fun trip!

It is easier, but I'm hoping to snatch up some interesting critters while camping and up north, and I haven't had a weekend away from the city since before I started college- I'm starting to go stir crazy!

Haha if I did set her up with an account on here, you all would have more questions about this 'dog-gone internet thing- how do I use google?!' than the mantids! I will be leaving her with a number of phone numbers... my number, the cabin number during the up north trip, the phone number of whoever is with me, and numbers of places that carry feeders in case something happens with them. :tt2: And whatever else occurs to me at the time.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Wordy! hope u r that good with your children when u have them! oh boy! a granny for me! first thing I wanna do is sit on her lap with icecream cone and have her sing to me! :kiss: !

Grannies love pretties!

 

[Orin]

Your grandma must have been around when we had the 6" Hierodula :shifty:

 

[agent A]

Awww. I have an extra granny you can have

How much do u want for her... :shifty: :tt2:

 

[Plex]

Wordy! hope u r that good with your children when u have them! oh boy! a granny for me! first thing I wanna do is sit on her lap with icecream cone and have her sign to me! :kiss: !

Grannies love pretties!

Enjoy your quality time with your very own granny! :lol:

Yes they do, especially pretties that go well with their other pretties! At least my granny does.

Your grandma must have been around when we had the 6" Hierodula :shifty:

When was that? :blink: Was that Hierodula fed a steady diet of protien and steriods in its cricket drumsticks? xD