I've read lots of different opinions on what crickets like to eat, but which of these things is most beneficial to the mantis that ends up eating the cricket? I think I'm going to order fly pupae because the flies deliver themselves to the mantids and it's much more fun to watch them snatch flying bugs out of the air, but until they arrive and hatch, it's probably going to be crickets for a week or two. They're Chinese L4s and their bellies are getting huge now that they've started eating the crickets! Thanks for any ideas.
What's best to "gut-load" crickets?
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I make my own food for the flies and crickets, and they are fat little feeders! I use bee pollen and honey powder in my foods along with a good protein mix!
PhilinYuma
Well-known member
If you follow Rick's advice, you'll have happy, healthy crickets, if their environment is satisfactory, and if you are feeding them to herps or amphibians, the contents of the loaded gut, often together with supplementary vitamins and calcium, will be digested with the cricket. This is not the case with mantids, though. Mantids are obligate carnivores and digest almost entirely insect (animal) protein, so the only gut contents that it is likely to digest are animal protein,, like cat and dog food. This is a Good Thing, because in the summer in this area, crickets and grasshoppers eat mostly dry grass. You may have seen the thread in which Arkanis and Rick reported the results of feeding caterpillars, heavily gut loaded with vegetable matter, to mantids. Green goo everywhere. The mantis didn't bother with the liquid gut contents, though it would still take nourishment from the caterpillar itself.
I grind the dry, but I suppose they would take the wet too. It actually might help with giving them needed moisture. I just think it might be too stinky and messy... but then again, I've never tried it!
Go out and pick some fresh, young dandelion leaves for them. If you're using Iceberg lettuce, it won't provide much of anything in the way of nutrients. Carrot and potato pieces are good too.
Thanks for the clarification on the lettuce - I don't know which kind I've got. I think that I've purged my yard of just about all dandelions (while reuniting with some of the mantids I've set loose) but I'll drop a couple of baby carrots in with the crickets.
If your lettuce comes in a "head" or "ball" shape, it's Iceberg. Other kinds that come as loose leaf or sheafs have more nutrients.
As for the dandelions... me too. That's why I go and raid my next door neighbor's yard!
:lol: Edit: Oh, I forgot about the little balls of "Buttercrunch" lettuce. I guess there are other lettuces that come in heads, but the most common one is the ordinary kind you get at the grocery store (Iceberg).
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When I say lettuce I actually mean bok choy, romaine, red leaf, collard greens, mustard greens, etc. Not iceberg which is worthless. Use dry cat or dog food. Make sure to take out any uneaten food within a couple days.
Yes, "greens" .... any of the (usually) dark green leafy type vegetables.
Oh, and you don't have to remove the dry cat or dog food... just any uneaten fresh food (which will either dry up, mold, or spoil and could cause health problems).
I grind up a mixture of cat/dog food, flake fish food, and bee pollen as a staple diet for mine. I just bought some pond fish pellets and some guinea pig food that I'm planning to add to the mix. I'm planning on grinding up a big batch today, as I'm about out. Going to dig out the food processor though and try it though, I think. It takes a long time to grind little bunches of cat/dog food and the other ingredients in the dedicated "coffee" grinder I've been using.
