Feeder Care
A healthy mantis relies on a healthy source of food. Finding a reliable source of feeders can be a challenge, so sometime its easier to keep and maintain your own. There are many kinds of invertebrates available that are quite easy to care for and require little space.
Fatal Mantis offers a many feeder options, but here is a list of other suppliers with feeders we don't carry
Fruit Fly Cultures
Fruit flies are one of the primary food sources for all young nymphs. They come in mainly two sizes, the smaller melangaster and the larger hydie. Both can be reared in cultures to produce hundreds to thousands of flies over and over again.
Culture care:
A culture can last about 1.5 months depending on the amount of media inside. Keep at room temperature and avoid temperatures above 80F.
Mites spread quickly and infest cultures resulting in low output and potential infestations to mantids. Keeping the container in a light dusting of diatomaceous earth around the base will protect and prevent spreading.
Quick and Easy Culture Recipe:
1 cup of Instant Mashed Potatoes
8 teaspoons of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of sugar
Active baker’s yeast
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Method:
Mix the instant mashed potatoes, cornstarch, sugar and ground cinnamon together. Add a layer about 1/4 inch of dry mix in your container. Add in distilled or RO water; about the same volume as the mix you have spooned into the container is enough. It should be a soft, slightly runny peanut butter consistency. lastly sprinkle a tiny amount (only a fraction of a pinch) of active baker’s yeast. Add in Excelsior. Flies can be added immediately.
Dry mix can be stored for later use.
House Flies and Bottle Flies
These can be purchased as spikes or pupae and easily stored in the fridge for later use. Do not store in the freezer.
Rearing flies is not a clean or easy process. There is commercial grade house fly media available, however unless you have someplace well ventilated, the smell can be quite bad.
Bottle flies usually eat decaying meats or a mixtures of milk and dog food, however this can breed salmonella and foul up any room.
Adult flies can be kept for a short time with food and water. feed the flies apples slices, banana, or the dog food milk mixture. Placing the adult flies in the fridge will stun them long enough to be caught.
Mealworms
Mealworms are one of the easiest feeders to keep and reproduce. They can survive easily in a container of oats with some potato or apple slices thrown in every now and then. They require very little care, have very little smell and reproduce readily in the container.
A large wide container works well for these guys. Mealworms cannot climb smooth surfaces, however they can raise their bodies upright along the sides to grab the top of the container. Keep at least 1-2 inches from the lid to the bottom
An easy way to sort mealworms is to have two containers that fit within each other with space between the two. Cut the bottom of the top container and glued a wire screen in place. Small mealworms will climb out through the holes to the lower container while larger ones and adult will remain above.
Crickets
Crickets can be quite pricey over time so breeding your own can save you money in the long run. The time and effort in keeping crickets can be a hassle as they are a messy feeder and require frequent cleaning to prevent waste and ammonia buildup.
Container:
Crickets can be kept in a tote or tall glass tank over a foot tall with plenty of ventilation cut into the lid. the height is important as crickets can jump quite well and will find anyway to escape. Egg crates are used to increase space for crickets to move
Food and water:
Commercial diets are available however oats, potatoes and apples are a excellent source of food. remove any old or moldy food.
Many suppliers use carrots as a source of food which has been a topic of discussion as a cause of poisonings in the mantis keeping hobby. There's nothing proven about carrots being poisonous if used to gut-load feeders, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that this is the case. Its best to avoid them regardless.
Crickets do require a water source, but will drown in water bowels. There are plenty of water crystals available on the market specifically made for crickets. These absorbed water to become a gel that the cricket can drink from.
Breeding:
A container of damp soil or coco fiber can be used for breeding. Adult female crickets will deposit the eggs in the soil with their long ovipositor. keep the soil slightly damp to the touch and the eggs will hatch in a couple weeks. Separate adults from nymphs as they will eat them.
Roaches
Roaches are another fairly easy feeder to keep. Roach allergies are very common and is not recommended to anyone who has asthma. Allergies to roaches can develop with prolonged exposure.
Container:
Non-climbing Roaches can be kept in 10gal tanks with a wire lid. Paper towels can be placed on the bottom with layers of egg crates or paper towel rolls for hiding places.
Climbing roaches require a layer of Vaseline around the inner sides to prevent escape.
Clean weekly.
Food and Water:
roaches will eat just about any food scraps but do very well on oats, potato's and apples. Remove any old or moldy food items.
Water crystals or light misting can be used for water sources.
Breeding:
Roaches will easily reproduce, laying ootheca with hundreds of eggs.
Some species like Dubia require slightly higher temperatures for eggs to hatch. Use a reptile heating pad on one side to promote hatchings.
Waxworm Moths
Wax worms are a species of moth that lives in bee hives eating the wax and honey produced by bees.
Containers
Waxworms are able to chew through some plastics. They can be kept in very hard plastic containers or glass tanks. The size can be as small as 1 gallon or larger. They prefer their environment to be dark with temperatures around 80-90F.
Food and Substrate
Create a layer of bran, uncooked oatmeal or wheat germ about an inch thick. Add Honey to make a crumbly paste. It should be just enough to stick together, but not dripping wet. Let it dry then add either egg cartons or crumpled wax paper for the caterpillars to make cocoons. they will emerge as moths and lay their eggs in the egg cartons or wax paper.
Maintenance
Add more substrate as needed and remove any dead caterpillars, empty cocoons, and dead moths.
Cocoons
you can take out cocoons intended for feeding and keep them in small ventilated containers on a paper towel. Mist the container lightly every few days to keep up humidity. They will emerge as moths in a few weeks.
Horn Worm moths
Horn Worm Moths are a large species of moth found in the united states. They can be a pest species for tomato plants and can sometimes be found in your home garden. They can often be confused as humming birds for their size and how they fly.
Containers
If using a commercial diet, Horn Worms should be kept separated in individual cups with good ventilation. they should have some kind of mesh that allows them to climb the sides of the container when they are not eating.
If using a host plant, keep the plant and caterpillar in a tall mesh popup cage. A single caterpillar can devour a large tomato plant before it is ready to pupate. One or more tomato plants might have to be used.
Horn worms are very messy and waste should be removed frequently.
Food
there is commercial diet mixtures available online for hornworms. If a hornworm starts on live plants they will not as readily take to these diets.
They can live on several host plants such as tomato, Broccoli, Spinach, and collared greens.
Cocoons and adults
Hornworms will spin silk cocoons and emerge in a few weeks as large moths. They can be fed using hummingbird feeders and nectar. Pairs will readily breed and lay eggs on host plant leaves.