# Praying Mantis Food?



## themowingmonk (Jul 12, 2006)

Ok well my first batch of praying mantises just started hatching today. But the hatchlings are so small i dont know what i can feed them with. Do you guys have any ideas of what to feed them with, i was thinking fruit flies but i cant seem to find anywhere that has live ones. any imput on this would be great. thanks!


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## KennyGee (Jul 12, 2006)

buy some fruit flie online like.


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## Techuser (Jul 12, 2006)

You can also feed with mosquitos


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## jarrell (Jul 12, 2006)

you can just hand some rotten friut outside and see if it attacts wild fruit flies. Fruitflys seem to used to infest my old apartment every time a banna started to rott.


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## Vicious (Jul 13, 2006)

A variety of feeder insects should be provided.  Fruit flies and aphids for the smaller mantids.  Make sure the prey is gut loaded (feed vitamin enriched food to the prey, which will be passed on to the mantid).


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## themowingmonk (Jul 13, 2006)

you know anywhere were i could buy aphids? i just ordered a bunch of fruit flies.


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## Vicious (Jul 13, 2006)

themowingmonk said:
			
		

> you know anywhere were i could buy aphids? i just ordered a bunch of fruit flies.


Are we allowed to link sites of suppliers??  It's late and I really don't feel like reading the rules.  Anyone know off the top of their heads? :?


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## Vicious (Jul 13, 2006)

Vicious said:
			
		

> Are we allowed to link sites of suppliers??  It's late and I really don't feel like reading the rules.  Anyone know off the top of their heads? :?


You know what... I'm too tired to wait for a response, and too lazy to read the long rules. (my apologies AB, but I'm only trying to help out).

www.rinconvitova.com

www.berkshirebio.com

themowingmonk, try these suppliers for aphids.


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## opal (Jul 21, 2006)

*springtails*

springtailes are a great starter food for mantids that just hatched . the  timid mantids may not eat and they will starve but even the most timid ones will chose to eat springtailes because the are even smaller than fruitflies . mantidis are not abel to eat spingtales after they molt 2 times . spingtales can eat almost every thing dog food fish food cat food dirt dead leaves fruits


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## Brian S (Jul 21, 2006)

They wont have to eat all that many fruitflies before they molt a couple times and you can then move them up to small crickets


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## themowingmonk (Jul 21, 2006)

well i got the fruit flies and they work out fine, the mantises went nut as soon as  i threw in the flies, every mantis i could see nailed a fly within a couple minutes. at least now i have the fruit fly culture grown for when my next batch of mantises start hatching which should be in a few days.


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## sydster (Oct 5, 2007)

dont feed mosquitosee
i had the same prolbem so i put them in a buterfly cage wiht small mesh holes and rotting fruit at the bottom the fruit flys squeeze in to the cage atracted by the small of  rotting fruit at the bottom of cage . dont have holes big enogh for mantises to get out


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