Ran out of flies.....

[vyadha]

Im sure this has happened to countless mantis owners.... 

I bought 1000 housefly pupae from Joshes frogs and only about 50 or so hatched. Graceface sent me a few bb pupae as well and those are gone. 

I ordered some more but due to the holiday they wont ship until tuesday.

I kept them in the fridge and took them out for a few hours everyday. 

Any wild things I can try catch that wont hurt a few subadult ghosts and one full adult?

I have a mealworm colony, a dermestid colony and a hisser colony. I tried little specimens of each throughout the week even when I had flies to see if there was any interest, nothing.

I have a few cricket and waxworms for my assassins but Im not too keen on the crickets per the stories Ive heard. 

Also, every once in a while flies get into my dermestids and Ive always cleaned out the maggots.... I guess when it happens next Ill culture the gooey grossness for my ghosts.

Any tips on what I can do til the flies get here?

 

[Synapze]

When did they last eat? 

 

[vyadha]

When did they last eat? 

Thursday night, each of the nymph had a housefly or a bb. I put in a hatching BB pupa with the male and he grabbed it off the bottom of the enclosure. He ate the head and discarded the rest. That was his first meal since molting, 5 days.

 

[Synapze]

Any wild things I can try catch that wont hurt a few subadult ghosts and one full adult?

You could try leaving an outside light on at night and catch insects drawn by the light. They will take waxworm or meal worm guts if they get hungry enough. Personally, I wouldn't sweat it too much if I knew I'd have feeders by the end of the week. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

If you'll have feeders soon, I wouldn't worry. Your mantids should be perfectly fine!

- MantisGirl13

 

[vyadha]

Thanks! That’s great to hear.

I worry too much about my inverts like most of us here.

When i first had my Dermestid colony i was so worried when three didn’t eat for a few days..... Now they’re possible feeders! 

 

[MantisGirl13]

Ya, no need to worry! After keeping mantids for three years, I have given up on worrying because it doesn't get anything done!

- MantisGirl13

 

[hysteresis]

I threw all my L4 ghosts and the L5 spiny a pinhead crix yesterday (1/4 pins). IMO, the key is to flush their guts and keep them clean and dry. Also key, is to make sure they're way smaller than the mantis, if you want to avoid battle damage.

They'll take a grub if presented on the lid with it, sometimes. Failing that, snip an end so guts ooze out and offer it up to the mandibles slowly so as not to frighten the mantis. 

You can also pull the head off the cricket gently, and most of its digestive tract will pull out along with the head. Present that carcass.

I havent fed a fly since the summer, to my wild caught europeans. Everyone is fat and happy.

My BSF should emerge this week. I hope.

 

[Graceface]

I've had bad luck with flies from Josh's Frogs, FYI. The 2 times I've gotten them, nothing ever hatched. 

I would get BBFs (not houseflies) from another vendor. The BBFs I get are more than double the size of houseflies, making them a better choice as feeders for the instars you are keeping currently. I can recommend a couple breeders I have had success with via DM. I regularly order from 2 different breeders. 

Adult Male Ghosts are very picky, light eaters, so I wouldn't worry much about Frank not eating much, and eating the heads only. I have a couple who do that, too. 

Ghosts are drawn to flying prey and I haven't had successes trying to feed them crawling prey. I've tried the whole, rip the heads off mealworms and offer the goo, but they get offended when it hits their mandibles. I've fed small crickets to them in a pinch before once, but I had limited success (some would not go for them at all). 

My advice: they will probably be fine until flies arrive. If you need to feed them in the meantime, you could try pinhead crickets. I'll DM you with my fly suppliers names  

 

[hysteresis]

@Graceface maybe your vendor ships BBF & HF to Canada?

 

[Graceface]

@hysteresis Idk, you can always ask em  

 

[Jaywo]

I know many people say this is a no no because of potential parasites with outdoor prey but I haven't had issues yet. When I'm desperate and run into the same situation you have, I put a funneled jar outside with yogurt, cheese and honey. It's totally gross but get a bunch of BBF and GBFs that way. They come out when the sun is up so I tend to put the jar in a warm place. The smellier it is, the more flies I get. I have done this at least six times in a pinch and in panic mode when my pupae don't hatch for whatever reason. It has worked ok for me.