So, I use to have all the supplies needed to start an extended culture of ffs. This time put in the sugar,instant potatoes but guess what...no yeast. Had no choice just let it go and they began to make maggots. When I fed the ffs from this culture (which had begun to mold and decompose so to speak) to my babies some are fine but a couple just dropped dead like over night. I am not absolutely certain this is cause...but if the ffs are eating this goop then my babies are as well and it may be the culprit behind em just dropping dead. Maybe without the yeast the mold is poisonous but not to the ffs but to the mantids??? bump!! Anyone???
Think my culture is culprit behind dying nymphs
- Thread starter sk8erkho
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This explanation is just an educated guess but from what I understand fruit flys feed on yeast, not the actual fruit. Most fruits provide natural yeast on the fruits skin which is why fruit flys are attracted to fruit. Adding more yeast ferments the food medium which rises the acidic level and in turn kills and/or prevents mold and bacteria from growing. In your particular case I'm guessing the fruit flys are either a bit more immune to the mold because of the yeast in their body or the fruit flys are eating the areas not covered in mold but they still carry mold spores and bacteria on them. When the Mantis eats the fruit fly covered/filled with bacteria/mold it probably thrives in the low yeast enviromnement (the mantid's gut) thus killing them. Thats my guess anyway.
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PhilinYuma
Well-known member
I pretty much agree with Hibiscusmile on this one! 
sk8erkho: your babies are not being killed by the fruit flies or their medium, they are just dying. It happens, I'm afraid.
Mr. Mantid: You've got a few good ideas in there, such as yeast increasing the CO2 and thus the acidity, but at normal atmospheric concentration/pressure (as opposed to the inside of a pressurized bottle of pop), the pH will only be about 5.65, mildly acid.
The fruit flies probably will carry mold and bacteria on them , but the peritrophic membrane in the mantid's mid gut will prevent food borne mold cells and bacteria from doing the mantis harm. I doubt that they are pathogenic for the mantis, anyway.
A lot of this stuff has already been thought out and proven or disproven in a lot of experiments. While guesswork is fun, it doesn't get us as close to the truth about science as looking up what has already been learned on a specific subject (Google is, as always, your friend) or testing a hypothesis by your own experimentation.
sk8erkho: your babies are not being killed by the fruit flies or their medium, they are just dying. It happens, I'm afraid.
Mr. Mantid: You've got a few good ideas in there, such as yeast increasing the CO2 and thus the acidity, but at normal atmospheric concentration/pressure (as opposed to the inside of a pressurized bottle of pop), the pH will only be about 5.65, mildly acid.
The fruit flies probably will carry mold and bacteria on them , but the peritrophic membrane in the mantid's mid gut will prevent food borne mold cells and bacteria from doing the mantis harm. I doubt that they are pathogenic for the mantis, anyway.
A lot of this stuff has already been thought out and proven or disproven in a lot of experiments. While guesswork is fun, it doesn't get us as close to the truth about science as looking up what has already been learned on a specific subject (Google is, as always, your friend) or testing a hypothesis by your own experimentation.
Me gets me infro from the googles ^_^I pretty much agree with Hibiscusmile on this one!
sk8erkho: your babies are not being killed by the fruit flies or their medium, they are just dying. It happens, I'm afraid.
Mr. Mantid: You've got a few good ideas in there, such as yeast increasing the CO2 and thus the acidity, but at normal atmospheric concentration/pressure (as opposed to the inside of a pressurized bottle of pop), the pH will only be about 5.65, mildly acid.
The fruit flies probably will carry mold and bacteria on them , but the peritrophic membrane in the mantid's mid gut will prevent food borne mold cells and bacteria from doing the mantis harm. I doubt that they are pathogenic for the mantis, anyway.
A lot of this stuff has already been thought out and proven or disproven in a lot of experiments. While guesswork is fun, it doesn't get us as close to the truth about science as looking up what has already been learned on a specific subject (Google is, as always, your friend) or testing a hypothesis by your own experimentation.
