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Mantid Discussions
Food and Feeding
Removing the crop from hand-fed feeder roaches
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<blockquote data-quote="PhilinYuma" data-source="post: 127361" data-attributes="member: 2509"><p>The gut contents of prey are seldom of any value to a predator, be it insect or mammal, though the latter will eat their prey's small intestines.</p><p></p><p>A number of us have noted that mantid's tend to avoid the crop of their prey, not because it is harmful to them, but simply because it would fill their own crop with useless vegetable food. Plant material tends to be broken down in vegetarian animals by microbes -- gut flora -- that predators do not possess. This, incidentally, is another reason why I find "gut loading" of prey insects to be a total waste of time (sorry, gut loaders!).</p><p></p><p>It seems that your system works well for you, Katt, and solves the worst problem with feeding roaches, their tendency to hide, or if they can't, remain motionless. If I think that a roach has survived too long, I will nudge it with a stick to get it going. I have also placed small amounts of sticky food, like gravy, high on a twig, so that the hungry roach will climb it to its doom.</p><p></p><p>I personally don't hand feed any mantis that can feed itself. Doing so reminds me of those poor bears at Yellowstone that have become dependent on the "kindness" of tourists, but then, I have a very poorly developed maternal instinct.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PhilinYuma, post: 127361, member: 2509"] The gut contents of prey are seldom of any value to a predator, be it insect or mammal, though the latter will eat their prey's small intestines. A number of us have noted that mantid's tend to avoid the crop of their prey, not because it is harmful to them, but simply because it would fill their own crop with useless vegetable food. Plant material tends to be broken down in vegetarian animals by microbes -- gut flora -- that predators do not possess. This, incidentally, is another reason why I find "gut loading" of prey insects to be a total waste of time (sorry, gut loaders!). It seems that your system works well for you, Katt, and solves the worst problem with feeding roaches, their tendency to hide, or if they can't, remain motionless. If I think that a roach has survived too long, I will nudge it with a stick to get it going. I have also placed small amounts of sticky food, like gravy, high on a twig, so that the hungry roach will climb it to its doom. I personally don't hand feed any mantis that can feed itself. Doing so reminds me of those poor bears at Yellowstone that have become dependent on the "kindness" of tourists, but then, I have a very poorly developed maternal instinct. [/QUOTE]
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Mantid Discussions
Food and Feeding
Removing the crop from hand-fed feeder roaches
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