Trashy Food

[Bah]

(Didn't think I should post this on feeding tread since it's just me talking about how I got food xD)

So I decided to make my own fruit fly culture from my very first one, but over the next 2 weeks I discovered the mites were starting to show up in the new cultures so I just got rid of it.

having to wait for almost a week for the new flies I was stumped on what to feed my 7 babies.. (3 Chinese, 3 ghosts, one spider)

I tried feeding scrambled eggs, and only one of the mantids accepted it

So left with no choice but to go hunting-

And I'm sure we all resorted to having to catch our own food :') 

My family has a garbage pile outside in the front and I see A LOT of flies

With the heat and the terrible smell, it provided the perfect living conditions, so you can imagine the "lovely" sight

one of the trash bins has a hole so I sat and waited from some to fly in, then I would have a plastic bag and capture the meal

This took 30 minutes  :sweatdrop:  but now they are all fat and happy <3  :chef:

Here is a link to their feeding session, the Chinese mantids are already done though xD

https://streamable.com/1o9gd

 

[River Dane]

Nice! LOL, I remember when I got my first mantis (a Chinese Mantis named Mandarin) I didn't know they sold flies at my pet store 

So for weeks I hand-caught all his food. Painfully annoying, but worth it!

 

[CosbyArt]

@Bah Glad you found something to feed your mantid nymphs in the meantime.

The mites travel from old to new FF cultures holding onto the fruit flies themselves, and any FF culture has mites to some extent - just with older cultures it is much more obvious. Also if you keep the new and old FF cultures on the same shelf or nearby the mites will crawl to the other cultures infesting them too much sooner.

You can get fancy with mite paper, related sprays, placing the FF cultures in trays of shallow water, etc.; however, the only real way to keep mites at bay is to keep producing new cultures weekly, and tossing/freezing older cultures once the mite population is noticeable (usually around the 3 week mark).

Yes, live caught feeders from outdoors is one of the more common feeders for many mantid keepers (yeah round for some lucky keepers too).

You can make fly traps, make sweep or aerial nets, buy "kids" butterfly nets at dollar stores (Dollar Tree has them for $1 this time of year), buy fancy nets, make a light trap, buy night traps, make beating sheets, buy beating sheets, make pitfall traps, make a insect vacuum, and so many other things.

The thing to watch out for is anything that would be a bad feeder for a mantid, insecticide/pesticide use, etc, see my post here.

 

[Bah]

@FluffyMantid haha that is pure dedication

Ahh I wish there was more Canadian breeders hard to find good stuff that doesn't sell crickets  

 

[Bah]

@CosbyArt Saaaame ; v ; even though they give me MAJOR goosebumps, i'll stand near garbage any day  if it means food in their bellies ^_^

I wish I knew this before x'D I unfortunately kept the old next to the new cultures, didn't think the mites could go through the fine paper :0

LOL thank you so much for the resources  I REALLY appreciate this! It'll be perfect to feed them when they are larger and when they would ignore the tiny fruit flies  :no:

And yes! I will definitely look through the link ' 0 '

Thank you Cosby!   

 

[River Dane]

@Bah Ha, thanks. Pet love, y'know? 

Sorry about that. I'm sure there're people here who can provide that stuff. 

 

[Bah]

@FluffyMantid Oh yes, gotta take care of the babies ^_^  

I'll definitely keep an eye out ' v ' so far I've been getting my supplies from one place, although pricey, but worth it! 

 

[River Dane]

@Bah Yep! 

That's good. Hope you find someone!

 

[CosbyArt]

@Bah Your welcome, glad it was useful. Yes, the grain mites found in FF cultures can pass through nearly any material air can making them even more of a pest. Have fun catching feeders, and good luck with the annoying mites.