puke tested positive for candida

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I wrote another post with more details that may be boring, so I just wanted to do a quick post.

I tested my mantid's puke and it came out positive for candida tropicalis. I need to add that my home environment is not sterile, so it may not be accurate. I am also just a student who makes many mistakes.

With that said, candida thrives in sugar (except honey). I have done experiments in the past on how to kill a different candida species (albicans), and the only good results were with volatile oils like rosemary oil and tea tree oil. These would probably harm the mantis.

So, the only thing I can do now is try to starve the candida by not letting any of my feeder insects eat fruit, or sugars like carrots.

I hope this helps anyone

 

[guapoalto049]

It's a good thought, but remember that Candida is a major player in the normal flora of the GI tract. In humans, Candida species can be found anywhere from mouth to anus, as well as the vaginal mucosa.

For example, if any healthy human gives a sputum culture it will be positive for Candida and Streptococcus; however, the patient doesn't necessarily have thrush and Strep throat. I imagine the same applies to our six-legged pets!

 

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Yeah, you are right! That why I was surprised when I performed a test that was negative for gram negative bacteria.

From all the playing around I did with Candida, this is the first time it resulted in Candida tropicalis instead of Candida albicans. Also, the agar turned blue in a matter of hours, when usually at room temperature it takes a couple days. I am confused about that. I think there is a way to tell if there is overgrowth by how many colonies develop in a certain amount of time. I need to ask my professor about that.

I was hoping someone would know what is supposed to be in the gut of a mantid. I'm sure lots of bacteria.

Maybe candida is normal in their gut, and the reason that they get sick is that we feed too much sugar from the feeder insects and then there is overgrowth?