winter food

[sschind]

I am interested in getting some native phasmids to use in my educational show but the thought of feeding them through the winter is a bit daunting. I know some may live on romaine and if it is possible to freeze fresh leaves that would be a solution as well but I was wondering if anyone has ever tried making some artificial food? Well, not artificial really more like a prepared food. I'm thinking of something along the lines of a fruit roll up with oak or bramble leaves instead of fruit. perhaps dehydrating leaves and then mixing them in a solution of unflavored gelatin or perhaps some agar to bind it or perhaps just blending fresh leaves into a slurry and adding a binding agent and spreading it real thin to allow it to solidify. Keeping it long term might be a problem (binders usually break down to mush if frozen don't they) but if you could freeze the leaves and then just mix it with the binder as needed it might work.

A friend of mine makes his own fish food from scratch so he always has me thinking of ways to make prepared foods for my critters.

 

[unicycle281]

The idea of an artificial diet fascinates me as well. I came across a paper (http://ocean.kisti.re.kr/downfile/volume/ksss/E1IEAM/2013/v26n1/E1IEAM_2013_v26n1_61.pdf) that did this and have been thinking about trying this. For them, it took 20-25% "leaf powder" to get a maximum of 66.7% survival rate. They did just what you mentioned by dehydrating leaves, grinding, and making an gelatin solution (agar in this case). They also added malt, yeast, "vitamins," sorbic acid, "salt mixture" absorbic acid and MPH which I'm assuming were for nutrition and preservation, but they were ambiguous.

Have you given this a shot yet? I'd be excited to hear how it goes.

Mark

 

[CosbyArt]

Indeed freezing fresh leaves is a common past time for Phasmid keepers. Also some species are up to eating dry leaves as they are (simply clothespin to tree limbs or put loose). Here is a link to a Phasmid (walking stick forum) talking about how they feed over winter.