What do you when youre leaving for a week?
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Tenodera sinensis (the one and only)
Crowley goes about a week without food. But I'm only doing that to expand time and keep her from aging too soon.
I think if you dump a load of food prior to leaving you should be okay... Maybe? I mean some may still try to cannibalize. But they should get what they need through the food to sustain until you're back.
I think if you dump a load of food prior to leaving you should be okay... Maybe? I mean some may still try to cannibalize. But they should get what they need through the food to sustain until you're back.
Ranitomeya
Well-known member
A week isn't long enough to be much of a risk as long as they're not really small nymphs and you've fed them prior to leaving.
I wouldn't leave small nymphs without food for too long, since they're more likely to dehydrate without getting moisture from their food. They're also more liable to molt while you're gone if you feed them really well before leaving, increasing the likelihood of you returning to find either dead nymphs from starvation and dehydration or missing nymphs from cannibalism.
Dehydration may be an issue if the room they're kept in is extremely dry, but larger nymphs should have no problem with it if fed and watered just prior to your vacation.
I wouldn't leave small nymphs without food for too long, since they're more likely to dehydrate without getting moisture from their food. They're also more liable to molt while you're gone if you feed them really well before leaving, increasing the likelihood of you returning to find either dead nymphs from starvation and dehydration or missing nymphs from cannibalism.
Dehydration may be an issue if the room they're kept in is extremely dry, but larger nymphs should have no problem with it if fed and watered just prior to your vacation.
I use this system that I've explained in the past...
posted 06 September 2014 - 02:23 PM
I travel a lot and am usually take 4 or more 7 – 12 day trips a year. I explained my self-feeding system a few times in the past but couldn't find my posts when I searched.
I set up a self-feeding system in advance. About ten days before I leave I have fresh blue bottle larvae (aka spikes) delivered. (Must be larvae and not pupae.) For adults or larger nymphs, I take bb larvae out of the refrigerator every day for 7 - 8 days and put them in a container on the counter until the day before I leave. Each day I start a new container. The day before I leave, I take the appropriate number of bb larvae/pupae (some have pupated by now) from each container on the counter and add to each enclosure. With this system, every mantis has a continuous supply of flies hatching for about a week. I did this while I was home once to test to see how it works. It worked great except that I had a slightly lower bb hatch rate for ones that were placed in enclosures under heat lamps (b. Mendicas). Just be careful if you have mantids that are close to molting. You may want to reduce the number of bb added or do every other day as too many hatched flies can stress a molting mantis.
For small nymphs that are eating fruit flies, I create smaller fruit fly cultures (16 ounce deli cups) a few weeks in advance. Before I leave, I put these mini cultures in the net enclosures. Instead of leaving the lid off, I cut a small hole in the cloth lid so that the flies can come and go. By the time I go, the culture is producing so that fruit flies are hatching on a regular basis. Still, I add some ffs from another culture and feed them well before I leave. Many of my nymphs are raised in nets. However, some are kept in 80 ounce deli cups. There isn't room to add a mini culture. However, I put the large portion cups with some fruit fly media in the enclosure and add a few extra fruit flies. I put a small hole in the lid for the flies to come and go. The media will dry out fast if it’s kept near a heat lamp.
If mantids aren’t molting, they seem to get enough moisture from the food to survive OK at my house in the summer. We live in different environments. So, every situation is different. If possible, I have someone spray most of my mantids every few days in the winter because it’s quite dry in my house even with a humidifier. If no one was available, I’ve used a drip system for species that require extra humidity for species that were kept in terrariums.
posted 06 September 2014 - 02:23 PM
I travel a lot and am usually take 4 or more 7 – 12 day trips a year. I explained my self-feeding system a few times in the past but couldn't find my posts when I searched.
I set up a self-feeding system in advance. About ten days before I leave I have fresh blue bottle larvae (aka spikes) delivered. (Must be larvae and not pupae.) For adults or larger nymphs, I take bb larvae out of the refrigerator every day for 7 - 8 days and put them in a container on the counter until the day before I leave. Each day I start a new container. The day before I leave, I take the appropriate number of bb larvae/pupae (some have pupated by now) from each container on the counter and add to each enclosure. With this system, every mantis has a continuous supply of flies hatching for about a week. I did this while I was home once to test to see how it works. It worked great except that I had a slightly lower bb hatch rate for ones that were placed in enclosures under heat lamps (b. Mendicas). Just be careful if you have mantids that are close to molting. You may want to reduce the number of bb added or do every other day as too many hatched flies can stress a molting mantis.
For small nymphs that are eating fruit flies, I create smaller fruit fly cultures (16 ounce deli cups) a few weeks in advance. Before I leave, I put these mini cultures in the net enclosures. Instead of leaving the lid off, I cut a small hole in the cloth lid so that the flies can come and go. By the time I go, the culture is producing so that fruit flies are hatching on a regular basis. Still, I add some ffs from another culture and feed them well before I leave. Many of my nymphs are raised in nets. However, some are kept in 80 ounce deli cups. There isn't room to add a mini culture. However, I put the large portion cups with some fruit fly media in the enclosure and add a few extra fruit flies. I put a small hole in the lid for the flies to come and go. The media will dry out fast if it’s kept near a heat lamp.
If mantids aren’t molting, they seem to get enough moisture from the food to survive OK at my house in the summer. We live in different environments. So, every situation is different. If possible, I have someone spray most of my mantids every few days in the winter because it’s quite dry in my house even with a humidifier. If no one was available, I’ve used a drip system for species that require extra humidity for species that were kept in terrariums.
I was thinking of this same idea but wasn't sure if it could be done, glad to know it can! Thank you so much for you're input.
