Ratmosphere
Well-known member
Hey guys. I was wondering how you store house fly/blue bottle fly pupae so they won't hatch until you need them. How long do they take to hatch and how many should I feed an L4 mantis in a week?
Storing fly pupae
- Thread starter Ratmosphere
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@Ratmosphere I keep mine in my bug mini "dorm" fridge set to about 40F (Craigslist find for $25). The pupae stay good for about 2 weeks, on the 3 week only about 25-50% hatch (depending on which end of the 3rd week), and any longer than that and they will not hatch at all. The pupae typically take 2 to 3 days at room temperature to hatch, when they start to go bad it can take another day or two. Just put the pupae in a dry area of the mantis habitat every other day to hatch and feed automatically, or add the pupae to a deli cup with a lid and add them to your mantis habitat manually to keep count of their food.
A mantis feeding amount really depends upon the mantis species and which fly species you are using, as houseflies and bottle flies are vastly different in size - bottle flies being about double the housefly size. A really rough estimate would be about 2-3 flies per feeding for a nymph mantis and feeding ever other day would be 8-12 flies a week, but add in some non-hatching pupae count and round it out a bit you would need 15-20 for a single mantis. That amount will vary on flies that hatch and how many your mantis needs (nearly all mantises will overeat), but it is better to have too many than not enough when you are ordering online.
Again the pupae count depends on many factors mantis species, male/female even, flies used, how many flies hatch, how warm you keep your mantises (warmer the mantises are the more active/hungry/eat), and other things.
A mantis feeding amount really depends upon the mantis species and which fly species you are using, as houseflies and bottle flies are vastly different in size - bottle flies being about double the housefly size. A really rough estimate would be about 2-3 flies per feeding for a nymph mantis and feeding ever other day would be 8-12 flies a week, but add in some non-hatching pupae count and round it out a bit you would need 15-20 for a single mantis. That amount will vary on flies that hatch and how many your mantis needs (nearly all mantises will overeat), but it is better to have too many than not enough when you are ordering online.
Again the pupae count depends on many factors mantis species, male/female even, flies used, how many flies hatch, how warm you keep your mantises (warmer the mantises are the more active/hungry/eat), and other things.
Go to my site and look for the house and blue bottle fly pupae care sheet here. http://www.mantisplace.com/feeder-care-page
just scroll down till u come to it. I have 1 million or more flies per month and this is how I care for them.
just scroll down till u come to it. I have 1 million or more flies per month and this is how I care for them.
