Oh my goodness! I need bigger food!

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dgerndt

dgerndt

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My Chinese mantis nymph molted to L3 last night and now he's HUGE! I have NO IDEA how he was in his old exoskeleton, because he almost doubled in size! Mantids never cease to amaze me.

All I have in the way of food is melanogaster FF's and "small" crickets from the pet store. The FF's are WAY too small, and the crickets are WAY too big. I think I need heydei FF's or even pinheads, FAST. I can't let him starve! Where can I get cheap heydei and pinheads? I only have $17 to my name... college and Christmas and being unemployed makes my mantis funds extremely limited. I'm sure I can a little more money by shovelling driveways and helping the older people in my neighborhood...

Thank you in advance!

 
You may have to call around to some pet stores(petsmart-petco-petsupplies plus) to find smaller crickets, but they will eat house flies and bb's if you can find them (the online shipping can be a drag though). :)

I wish you the best of luck finding the right size food for your little guy's.

 
L3 Chinese should be able to take most crickets - once he's hardened up a bit (give em a day or two at least before putting in crickets).

I'd move right on to house flies, if you're ready, or stick with "small" crickets.

 
Keep in mind there can be some confusion with the term "pinhead".

Some people take it to mean crickets the size of pin heads (first or rarely second instar) while others take it to mean crickets who's head is the size of the head of a pin (I dunno, 3rd instar or so).

The size difference between the two is significant.

That said, mantids can take food that seems quite large. Half their own size easily, many will take food near to their own size or rarely larger. Of course, with new food make sure the feeding is supervised. I do not know if mantids have a learning curve to their first big meal.

 
Peter J F said:
Keep in mind there can be some confusion with the term "pinhead".

Some people take it to mean crickets the size of pin heads (first or rarely second instar) while others take it to mean crickets who's head is the size of the head of a pin (I dunno, 3rd instar or so).

The size difference between the two is significant.

That said, mantids can take food that seems quite large. Half their own size easily, many will take food near to their own size or rarely larger. Of course, with new food make sure the feeding is supervised. I do not know if mantids have a learning curve to their first big meal.
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Yeah, this can be a serious irritation when you see "pinhead crickets" advertised in a store and they turn out to be L3. Even if you buy the genuine, L1 article, though, they are likely to be close to a week old and will double their size one week after hatching, at L2.

I have found that a mantis's first encounter with large prey like BBs and bees is seldom a problem unless the prey is careening around a 32 oz pot and occasionally crashing into the mantis. Some mantids find this intimidating, but usually, in my experience, they catch on after a few encounters.

 
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It has been awhile since I kept chinese, but I recall L3 being capable of eating much larger then fruit flies or pinhead crickets. Pinheads are about the size of mels.

 
Well, I threw in the very smallest of my "small" crickets I got from Petco (gut-loaded, of course). I haven't seen him go for it yet, but I'll keep a close eye on him. I tried to hand feed him another tiny cricket yesterday, but he seemed pretty scared of it. I guess if he gets hungry enough he'll do what it takes to get food.

Is it bad that I put him in a 32 oz deli cup? He's way too big for the small one that I had him in.

 
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My Chinese mantids did not take crickets the first couple of times I tried offering them. <_< I got them to eat crickets only after I let them taste the juices. If your mantis hasn't eaten any yet, you could break a cricket and put a juicy part right to the mantid's mouth. My mantids all caught on to catching their crickets once they figured out that they were edible. :lol: These mantids were all spoiled on flying insects before I got crickets for them. Be sure to keep and feed the crickets for at least a couple of days before giving them to your mantids. Crickets can be a good food for a mantis if they are cared for properly. I have lost a couple of mantids when I fed some poorly kept crickets to them, (directly out of the bag, and stinky).

 
likebugs said:
My Chinese mantids did not take crickets the first couple of times I tried offering them. <_< I got them to eat crickets only after I let them taste the juices. If your mantis hasn't eaten any yet, you could break a cricket and put a juicy part right to the mantid's mouth. My mantids all caught on to catching their crickets once they figured out that they were edible. :lol: These mantids were all spoiled on flying insects before I got crickets for them. Be sure to keep and feed the crickets for at least a couple of days before giving them to your mantids. Crickets can be a good food for a mantis if they are cared for properly. I have lost a couple of mantids when I fed some poorly kept crickets to them, (directly out of the bag, and stinky).
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Those darn mantids. It's a good thing they're so cute; they'd never get away with so much frustration otherwise. :pinch: I'll try tempting him with a gooey cricket piece.

 
You'll be amazed more everytime they molt.MY expperience humbly given is give him a few days after molting ,and then give them small crickets.These chinese learn quickly how to huntI have L4 and5 females taking full size crickets now.They are a species i will never grow tired of.

 
chinese ne said:
You'll be amazed more everytime they molt.MY expperience humbly given is give him a few days after molting ,and then give them small crickets.These chinese learn quickly how to huntI have L4 and5 females taking full size crickets now.They are a species i will never grow tired of.
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Yeah, he's been getting small crickets now that he's learned that they're actually food. lol

 
@guapoalto: They really do! And they get HUGE with every molt!

@Hibiscusmile: Haha, it's true! I tried calling up Petco and asking if they had pin head crickets, and the man on the phone had no idea what I was talking about.

 

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