Orchid Mantid force feeding

[trygon]

Hi,

All I have available to me for food at the moment is crickets. My Orchid Mantid will eat them but is refusing to hunt for them. To get her to eat anything I have to push a cricket in her face. She will fight it like an enemy until -like a switch- she moves into feeding mode. I am worried that she wont thrive on this diet and that she wont get the food she needs if she refuses to catch food when she wants it.

Do Orchids usually hunt and eat more voraciously? What can I do to get her more interested in food? Anyone else out there have to 'force feed' their mantids?

thanks

 

[Jwonni]

I used to hand feed mine not so much force feeding it was because she had faulty arms so could not acurately strike but once she started eating she would hold it.

I can definately say that all mine including her before she messed her arms up were aggressive to prey they would follow it round swaying and tackle items bigger than themselve but all this is with flies.

when i did not have flies in they were always a bit under eager with crickets quite a few times i saw em run away or just ignore them sometimes they would be a little more receptive if i found the smallest cricket and took its big legs off to make it look smaller but generally when using cricket i had to get em out of the jar, take legs of small cricket and keep pushing it to walk past em and eventually they would grab or if not i had to kill the cricket and hand it to em

So they are aggressive and eager when the food is flies its what they love

i beleive they can be ok on crickets but i've heard there eggs wont be as good or as often or as fertile something like that as crickets dont have everything they need but are ok for a short time so they dont starve

to get them feeding properly they need flying food why is crickets all that you have available and how long is this the case for?

 

[trygon]

Wow,

thanks for all your info!

Your description of their reactions to crickets verses flies is pretty much what I have been experiencing. I am living in a dorm at school... with other people who don't so much like to have bugs around. I tried raising and feeding flies for a while and I got into trouble :roll: And its winter around here so I can't easily go and cathc the food i need for them.

I will try and get some flies to raise over winter break though. Are there larger flies then house flies easily available?

thanks again!

 

[yen_saw]

Hi Trygon, feeding orchid mantis crickets occassionally is alright. While it is difficult to capture flies outside or culture them, you can buy fly pupa or larvae on line, they are not very expensive.

www.grubco.com

http://gallery.bcentral.com/GID5117962P396...Houseflies.aspx

 

[Rick]

I haven't tried crix with orchids however everybody else has ate them for the majority of their diet. I get the fly larvae from grubco which turn into flies in a few days after taking them from the fridge.