No more food

[Mvalenz]

Hello everyone,

I have a L-3 budwing. I have no more fruit flies. The last time she ate was between Friday and Saturday. She ate 4 or 5 Drosophila Hydei. It is now Monday and my local pet store said they should get a shippment in tomorrow. How long can she go without food? Are there any alternatives untill I get some more? Can i give her some honey to hold her over till I do?

Thanks

 

[lancaster1313]

Depending on your area and climate, you may be able to catch something for her, but she can definitely wait until tomorrow. They can go a few days without food.

 

[frogparty]

Where are you located? Petco usually always has them. If you are in southern Cali, I have a ton. And houseflies too

 

[dlemmings]

will be fine till tomorrow for sure.

 

[Mvalenz]

I live outside of Chicago. It's too cold to find bugs outside (can't wait to be able to do that). I called every pet store around my house and they are either out or they don't supply them. One place told me that they should get a supply tomorrow, but can not guarantee it. One lady told me that she has fruit flies but they are all in cocoon stage. If they do not get an order in I will have to order some. That can take a 2-3 days. If it comes to that does anyone know of an alternative?

 

[happy1892]

How long is the L3 nymph? If the mantis is big enough it can maybe eat a small fish. Are budwing mantids aggressive feeders? Do the pet stores have any other kind of animal to feed the mantis? If you keep him cool then he will last longer without food. What temperature do you keep him in?

 

[hibiscusmile]

go get a couple crickets from store. squish guts out and put on toothpick and offer to it, it should eat it fine and l3 bud, can have house flies and pin head crickets now.

 

[Mvalenz]

my L-3 is a little over an inch. I keep it at about 80 degrees. This little girl is an aggresive feeder. I will try the gut squirt technique if i can not find any pin heads.

Thanks everyone.

 

[meaganelise9]

You're not too terribly far from me. I'll keep that in mind if you ever have another urgent situation. I've tried that with the guts before when in a pinch. It usually works. Just put the bug parts right up to his/her mouth, and they usually figure out that there's something worth eating.

 

[Mvalenz]

Thanks meaganelise9. I called a Petco near my house and they said they just got an order of FF. I'm going to see how they look before I buy. Any sugestions on what to look for?

 

[hibiscusmile]

just have to be alive and moisture in the tube.

 

[Mvalenz]

Just realized that the FF i bought are Drosophila melanogaster and not D. Hydei. Should i Just put more of them in with my mantid?

 

[sporeworld]

Yup. And L3 SHOULD be ready for small crickets. I think. Might need to be selective. Maybe someone with more budwing experience can correct me.

 

[meaganelise9]

I think my budwing is about L4 right now and she's just starting on bluebottles, but easily takes the fruit flies from the store.

 

[Psychobunny]

go get a couple crickets from store. squish guts out and put on toothpick and offer to it, it should eat it fine and l3 bud, can have house flies and pin head crickets now.

LOL! I was just going to post the same suggestion.

That's also what I do with sick/injured ones.

 

[Mvalenz]

Brought home the smallest crickets I could find. They were about 1/4 of the size of my budwing. Put one in with her and she attacked it. She has only eaten one little FF since she molted. So this may have been because she was hungry. But i never seen her attack FF like that before. Didn't want her to over eat so i had to take some of the cricket back from her. She wasn't too happy about that.

 

[gripen]

lol!!

 

[sporeworld]

Besides one crazy-crazy aggressive Dead Leaf, and one gluttonous Gongy, I don't think I've had any problems with mantids over-eatting. They usually just drop it when they've had their fill. But glad she's eatting.

 

[sinensispsyched]

Glutonous Gongy-Good alliteration!