Here is my current feeding apparatus for my mantis nymphs. It is a modified Pooter (aspirator) that I came up with after reading about the "Fruit Fly Blowdart" made by a past member.
One major advantage of this device is it uses a rubber bulb to suck in the fruit flies and blow them into your mantis habitat - no putting your mouth on it and sucking in the flies manually. So no health or safety concerns, and is easy to use.
I'd like to add a video of it in use, or the build process but don't have a webcam anymore; however, it is easy to use and straight forward - so I made a quick tutorial of the steps of making the Fruit Fly Baster below with images. In the future I may add a video to make it simpler to build.
See near the end of this topic post for details on usage and repair.
How To Build --
There are 6 basic steps and takes 10 to 15 minutes to assemble.
Parts List
- Turkey Baster (with plastic tube)
- About 1 foot length of 1/4" (0.25 inch) standard aquarium airline tubing
- Fine screen mesh to trap the fruit flies - I use organza fabric
- Optional - aquarium airline straight connector. It is used so the tubing and mesh can be replaced easily if needed for a repair.
- A rubber band and some masking tape - they will make it easier on the final steps in step 6.
- Hobby razor knife
- * Hacksaw (if baster tube is hard plastic)
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun with glue sticks
Step 2 - Using your hobby knife if it soft plastic, or a hacksaw if it is hard plastic - cut the baster tube on the outer two measurement lines (closest to the ends of the baster tube). If the lines are smaller just cut roughly to size as seen in the pictures below. You will end up with three pieces, save the two ends and throw away the middle section. At this point you should pull off the rubber bulb for the next few steps.
Step 3 - Insert the bottom tip piece of the baster tube inside the top tube piece (see below). I pushed the tip piece in about a extra 1/4" in case I wanted to add a extra screen, but never did. With it dry fitted, use your hot glue gun and glue the two pieces together. Put glue inside the gap from the top piece and tip piece, filling the space and creating a bevel of glue around the outer edge (this may be seen more clearly in Step 4 image below). You want to ensure it is airtight, with maximum airflow inside the baster tube.
Step 4 - Insert one end of the 1/4" tubing through the tip of the baster tube (you may need to slightly widen the baster tube tip opening with your razor knife) and push it to about 1/2" beyond the top of the baster tube. With the tubing in place fill the gap between the tubing and the baster tube from the top - centering the 1/4" tubing in the process. Once the hot glue is dry cut the 1/4" tubing flush with the hot glue/baster tube top. Next put on the rubber bulb, if the baster tube has two rings, put on the bulb around the first ring and finish twisting/pushing on the bulb.
Step 5 - This step is optional, but recommended as it can easily repair your fruit fly baster if there are any problems. About two inches beyond the baster tip cut through the 1/4" tubing. Take a aquarium airline straight connector and push on both pieces of the tubing (from the baster and the cut tubing). The connector will restrict airflow, but it still works great as mine has one in place.
Step 6 - In front of the airline connector (or 4" away from the baster tip to allow room for any future repairs) cut through the tubing to install your screen mesh. Take a small piece of the screen and wrap it around the end of the tubing, I use a rubber band to hold it in place.
Next take the loose tubing and place the end over the mesh end and line it up. At this point you can use a small 1/2" strip of masking tape to hold the two pieces of tubing together, and prevent glue from getting inside the tubing. To make a permanent connection hot glue the two pieces together and make sure they are properly lined up. Remove the rubber band when the hot glue is dry and trim off the excess screen mesh. Lastly cut the tubing to the desired length, I personally cut 4" beyond the screen mesh connection.
Test the finished fruit fly baster when the hot glue is dry. You should have air blowing/sucking only at the end of the tubing. If there are any air leaks fill them with hot glue; however, if it is around the squeeze bulb itself try to twist the bulb on better. Smearing a thin layer of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) around the end of the bulb will help make the bulb more airtight and allow it to slide on easier.
Usage --
Place a 1/4" feeding hole near the top of your fruit fly culture containers, and plug with a piece of sponge. Then you can easily use the baster to grab the flies off the lid. Then you can "squirt" the flies into the mantids habitat, and if you do not have a easy access you can add a feeding hole to the mantids home near the bottom for best results.
Using your new fruit fly baster is easy and with experience you can vary the squeezing pressure on the bulb to suck up a set amount of flies, or blow in a few flies to your mantis nymph as well from a tube full of flies.
- To use the fruit fly baster squeeze the bulb and hold it deflated.
- Tap down your fruit fly culture and open the lid.
- Quickly put the baster tip near a gathering of flies in your culture and release the bulb, it will suck up the flies. If placed near the top of the flies it will get more live flies than dead flies or pupae.
- Turn the baster over (tubing pointing up) inside the culture and shake it once to shake off flies on the tubing.
- Close the culture lid and place your finger over the end of the tubing holding the flies.
- Lastly open your nymph feeding hole and put the baster tube into it and squeeze the bulb to blow out the flies.
Repair --
The most common problem you will encounter is sucking up fly food medium. Often it can easily be expelled by repeated squeezing and releasing of the baster bulb inside the fly culture if it also has flies trapped inside the tubing.
For fly food medium that is really stuck you can softly squeeze the tube in front of the clog and pressing out the clog. You can also soak the clogged tubing in hot water to dissolve the clog if needed.
If the screen mesh allows flies to become lodged in the bulb you have to repair the section of tubing with the screen mesh. If you used a connector simply replace the section of tubing with a new section with screen (see the above instructions to make a new section); however, if you did not use a connector you will have to cut the tubing behind the screen mesh and add a new piece of screen mesh and a longer piece of tube.
One other common problem is the squeeze bulb may get a hole and does not provide enough suction. To fix the bulb buy another turkey baster of the same size and simply replace the damaged bulb with one from the new baster.
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As using a funnel and pouring flies into nymph cups just doesn't work.
