What to feed my little budwings???

[Psychobunny]

I dont know for sure what instar they are, but I have 2, and they are about an inch long and really "skinny"

They dont seem to like anything I try to feed them, either one!! I have never actualy seen them eat, but I

know they must be because of the droppings

I have tried everything; little cricks, little dubia's and ff's and they just ignor them all !

Is there something I am doing wrong? Are they "shy" eaters?

They both have jars which are not so large they cant find their prey, It walks right in front of them and they

totaly ignor it. :huh:

 

[massaman]

try putting them in something other then jars and just use fruit flies and put a bunch in with them and they will get interested sooner or later as usually I just put alot in with some nymphs that I have and they will get interested or they may be ready to molt or what not!

 

[LLCoolJew]

Hi guys,

Am having the SAME problem as you, Psychobunny. I have one L2-L3 Budwing, super skinny, doesn't seem so interested in eating when I put the food in her enclosure!

Yesterday, she and I played a little game. I brought her out, got her to sit still, and I hand fed her fruit flies from a pair of tweezers. I would let a few out, smash them slightly (sorry little fellas!), and then I put them up to her mouth, and she'd start sucking or grabbing them up. This went surprisingly well, and she ate about 15. I also gave her a housefly pupae that had just started to hatch, and I squeezed one end with my tweezers, then gave it to her. She loved that! She sucked the innards out, and then ate the entire shell. I also gave her a couple drops of water on a wooden toothpick, and she lapped them right up. She went from skinny to plump by the end of our snacktime, and I think it helped buid some rapport between us

Let me know how things go, and I'll do the same. I'm going to introduce her to some small cricks today, see how she takes to them!

Lauren

ps... are our mantids siblings again? Did you get them from same place as the Cilnias? I did.

 

[Psychobunny]

try putting them in something other then jars and just use fruit flies and put a bunch in with them and they will get interested sooner or later as usually I just put alot in with some nymphs that I have and they will get interested or they may be ready to molt or what not!

I have fed them the larger ff's and put lots of them in there.

I am sure they must have eaten some of them!!!

Will try the hand feeding thing too.

 

[Precarious]

They may be preparing to molt. Sometimes they won't eat for days before and they empty their bowels. If it goes on for more than 4 days I'd start to worry.

 

[PhilinYuma]

This question has already been nicely answered, but I'll add two things.

1) An inch-long mantis is not going to bother with fruit flies. Fierce budwings should be taking BBs at that size, or house flies at the very least.

2)If they are staying healthy and leaving droppings, it sounds as though they are sneaking snacks when you are not looking. Try placing one decently sized prey item in the pot and see if you can find it next day.

 

[mykey14]

My little budwing loves house hold spiders. Like daddy long legs and other tiny spiders. Shes a female though, so im not sure if theres a major size difference at this instar.

Personally i dont even try to feed them fruit flys or bb flys because there a pain in the butt to find and catch for me.