What to feed the feeders?

[swords]

Well I hatched a whole bunch of houseflies and blue bottle flies and now there's more than I need at the moment so I'm wondering what do I feed them? DO they eat oranges like the roaches and crickets or...? I tried a plastic spoon with a spot of honey on it and a bottle lid with powdered sugar but they still have skinny abdomens and likely aren't very nutritious that way.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Well I hatched a whole bunch of houseflies and blue bottle flies and now there's more than I need at the moment so I'm wondering what do I feed them? DO they eat oranges like the roaches and crickets or...? I tried a plastic spoon with a spot of honey on it and a bottle lid with powdered sugar but they still have skinny abdomens and likely aren't very nutritious that way.

Add powdered milk or powdered buttermilk (with bakery supplies in your supermarket) to the sugar. The next step up would be the special fly food sold at Mantis Place. Flies need moisture as much as food.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Boy, feast or famin at your place, we must be related :tt2:

 

[Colorcham427]

Add powdered milk or powdered buttermilk (with bakery supplies in your supermarket) to the sugar. The next step up would be the special fly food sold at Mantis Place. Flies need moisture as much as food.

What's the food your talking about at mantisplace???

 

[PhilinYuma]

What's the food your talking about at mantisplace???

http://www.mantisplace.com/feederinsects.html#flyfood I'm not getting paid for this, you know!

 

[Rick]

All you need is honey. I use a little syringe and squirt some on top of the foam plug in the side of their cups. Or even better, stick what you don't need in the fridge.

 

[swords]

Thanks guys. I had read about feeding with powdered milk before but I stopped myself just before I bought some today by noticing that it has 30% calcium in it. Excess calcium can supposedly be bad for molting insects, flies don't molt but mantids do. I don't know how many/if any people have lost mantids to calcium fed feeders, but apparently it is a big concern with the hardcore tarantula keepers out there that their feeders do not eat excess calcium. It's true there is some amount of calcium in almost everything but the powdered milk I had in hand was 30%. I feed my crickets and roaches high protein, low calcium cat chow to avoid either them or the tarantulas from having bad molts. Is bee pollen & honey powder the same as honey but dry and powdered?

 

[hibiscusmile]

yes, and it is ground fine so they can suck it up!

 

[ismart]

I give my feeder flies sugar water with very fine ground up pollen. This works very well for me.

 

[Rick]

Again, honey. It is made from pollen, is cheap, and easy to find.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Thanks guys. I had read about feeding with powdered milk before but I stopped myself just before I bought some today by noticing that it has 30% calcium in it. Excess calcium can supposedly be bad for molting insects, flies don't molt but mantids do. I don't know how many/if any people have lost mantids to calcium fed feeders, but apparently it is a big concern with the hardcore tarantula keepers out there that their feeders do not eat excess calcium. It's true there is some amount of calcium in almost everything but the powdered milk I had in hand was 30%. I feed my crickets and roaches high protein, low calcium cat chow to avoid either them or the tarantulas from having bad molts. Is bee pollen & honey powder the same as honey but dry and powdered?

Those labels can be misleading, can't they? The "30% Calcium" referred to on the packet means that if you eat one portion of powdered milk, 1/3cup or 23g, you will have met 30% of your daily calcium requirement. Everyone uses it, including Chuck at SpiderPharm and university fly labs, so there's nothing to worry about. Good luck!