Ootheca and fruit fly question.

[HomeschoolMom]

I'm a homeschool mom who is looking into purchasing and raising praying Mantis' this spring. I'm part of a small group of 10 families who would each like to participate. We are in Ontario and I've found a place to purchase the ootheca and a different place to purchase the wingless fruit flies but I'm wondering what is the best way to co-ordinate that? I guess I'm worried the fruit fly culture will die off before the ootheca hatches. Any insight or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[spotsy99]

Peter says on his website @Bugsincyberspace.com to order the fruitflies the same day the ooth hatches. 

 

[Zeppy44]

4 months with mantis but 55 yrs with tropical fish using mostly live foods for the fish is my experience with live food. Love not having to constantly buy. Would rather raise my own when I can.

It takes a bit of time to get the ff culture going so you have a steady supply. The initial goal is not only to feed the nymphs but to also have the next set of feeders growing for when you need them. I was glad when my ghosts (6 of em) got passed ff so I could stop trying to get enough to grow, pupate and hatch. This first time they outgrew ff before I got the timing down and ran out a few times. Petco had small vials of ff to cover the few days but high price.

Next time I need to feed ff, I will start several cultures days apart before I start needing them. Feeding was the first major problem I ran into after 3 weeks. Guess I was too used to hatching brine shrimp eggs ever 3 days for live food for fish.

Knowing what kind of mantis may make it easier to advise you on the timing. Some species ooths hatch huge amounts at a time and other not so much. That will help determine how many ff you need to start with. Are 10 families going to keep one mantis or one mantis per child or 10 mantis per family?

 

[Teamonger]

With fruit flies too many is better then not enough. Making new cultures is incredibly easy. There is a master post in the feeder section with dozen's of recipes. They are not overly picky at all and breed like wild fire once you get them going. 

One trouble I had personally was going from the smaller Melanogaster to the larger Hydei as their culture time is much longer. I found this graphic very useful to try to properly prepare for that switch over next time. Personally I keep my cultures over the 30 day mark but doing that risks grain mites which can be a huge pain.

 

[Serle]

I got a little ahead of myself with cultures and had one melanogaster cuture  that wasn't harvested from.

I  found they over crowed , starved down  therefore were discarded , I can feed only sooo many ff's.

 

[HomeschoolMom]

Thanks for the tips. I'll look into this more.

 

[Zeppy44]

With fruit flies too many is better then not enough. Making new cultures is incredibly easy. There is a master post in the feeder section with dozen's of recipes. They are not overly picky at all and breed like wild fire once you get them going. 

One trouble I had personally was going from the smaller Melanogaster to the larger Hydei as their culture time is much longer. I found this graphic very useful to try to properly prepare for that switch over next time. Personally I keep my cultures over the 30 day mark but doing that risks grain mites which can be a huge pain.

Thanks. Was looking for something like this.

 

[HomeschoolMom]

4 months with mantis but 55 yrs with tropical fish using mostly live foods for the fish is my experience with live food. Love not having to constantly buy. Would rather raise my own when I can.

It takes a bit of time to get the ff culture going so you have a steady supply. The initial goal is not only to feed the nymphs but to also have the next set of feeders growing for when you need them. I was glad when my ghosts (6 of em) got passed ff so I could stop trying to get enough to grow, pupate and hatch. This first time they outgrew ff before I got the timing down and ran out a few times. Petco had small vials of ff to cover the few days but high price.

Next time I need to feed ff, I will start several cultures days apart before I start needing them. Feeding was the first major problem I ran into after 3 weeks. Guess I was too used to hatching brine shrimp eggs ever 3 days for live food for fish.

Knowing what kind of mantis may make it easier to advise you on the timing. Some species ooths hatch huge amounts at a time and other not so much. That will help determine how many ff you need to start with. Are 10 families going to keep one mantis or one mantis per child or 10 mantis per family?

I believe they are Chinese ones. Just from a garden store. Likely each family will hatch an ootheca and then keep a few to raise. So, each family would need a fruit fly culture. How long do they need fruit flies for?

I'm confused about how the cultures work? Where do I get the flies from to begin with? Once the ootheca hatches how soon do they need to eat?

Any ideas on the best way to co-ordinate this would be appreciated.

 

[Zeppy44]

That is a fairly large mantis so will not need ff (fruit flies) for very long. Check the care on this forum for better info.

Live foods can be purchased online or maybe at local pet shop.

One family can start with a large culture of ff thru mail then divide and start other cultures for every family. They are very easy to cultivate. The search function in this forum will turn up more info on ff, houseflies, blue bottle, etc.

Soon as it gets warm you can hunt for wild feeders.

Most any question you have can be found here with search. There is just too much to put into a message.

Funny  how it all seems so hard and bewildering when you start. Just so darn much to learn. Not quite like opening a can of dog food or fish flakes.

But in a short time it all falls into place and makes sense.