Hausfliegen

    Hallo! Ich bin ein Amateur in dieser Welt der Mantis, also ist dies die erste von vielen Fragen, die ich über Futterinsekten bekommen habe. Lasst uns beginnen. Kennen Sie eine "saubere" Methode, Hausfliegen zu züchten/zurückzuzüchten? Vielen Dank!


    Hello! I'm kind of an amateur in this world of mantids so this is the first of a lot of questions I got about feeder insects. Let's start. Do you know any " clean" way to breed/rear domestic flies? Thanks!

    Hi,


    the german term for "domestic fly" is "Schmeißfliege" or "Goldfliege" - with this you'll surely find more threads in this forum.

    Also for further search, in US forums the most used term is "blue bottle fly" or simply "bottle fly" ;)


    We usually don't breed our flys ourselves but go to a fishing shop and simply buy them as they're cheap. It takes a little more effort to breed them than with Drosophila. Maggots of bigger flys usually eat meat, breeding stations can be mean stinkers. ( >Here's a thread about this subject!< )


    Also you may look here, lower right side, for some more informations ("Diptera"): >Mantopedia - Feeders<

    Musca domestica ("Housefly") may be the one you're looking for, they're smaller than blue bottles but you can breed them without meat. In some shops they're sold with crooked wings and therefore flightless, but I heard sometimes that their wings straighten up in future generations.


    Greetings,

    -Kraehe

    Hey!


    That was helpful. I'll check the mantopedia as well.


    The option of buying them in a fishing store is impossible for me because though I am French I live in the canary Islands. And they don't bring maggots here. They use to, but not anymore due to the parcels. So I usually have to breed my own feeders or hunting them directly from nature. Is that good for mantids?


    Regards.

    Hi,

    You can look for "yard trap" or "ranch trap" thats an easy way to catch good quantities of flies.

    These are net traps whereunder you put food for the flies (wet catfood works great), the well fed flies get trapped in the net and you can collect them once a day. To get them out of the trap just put them for a few minutes in the refridgerator and tap them in a container.


    We personaly do not use big flies that much (most species do not absolutely need them) we feed Drosophila, then we use Thermobia domestica and then we use roaches and other feeders.

    That way i can keep the mantids and my wife ;)


    Greetings Simon :P

    Mantiden sind doch auch nur missgebildete Schaben.

    :twisted:

    Die Kultur von Honigbienen ist kein Naturschutz.

    Hehehe I see. That looks like a good option too. But what do you do with species like Gongylus, Idolomantis, popa, etc. Do they go well with roaches?

    They should eat everything as long as it has an appropriate size👍

    Sometimes gongy and idolo are a bit weird but should work as long as it are flying insects.

    Popa shouldn't be a problem at all.

    Hi,

    Empusidae like Gongylus, Idolomantis etc. are an exception, they pretty much need flying food (you can get them adult with other food but its much harder).

    Thats why i do not keep any of them ;)


    You can get into beekeeping and feed them bees if flies are a Problem (i know more than one mantid-keeper who cares for a few hives)


    Popa are easy to keep without flies. They are not picky eaters at all.


    Greetings Simon :P

    Mantiden sind doch auch nur missgebildete Schaben.

    :twisted:

    Die Kultur von Honigbienen ist kein Naturschutz.

    Dude, that's the best f*cking idea you may have given to me. Plus I would be collaborating to restock the bees population. And it's clean.


    On the other hand, I have a doubt. Isn't it risky for mantids to catch bees? I know they do it on its natural habitat but I've always been afraid of feeding them with bees or wasps ( I did it yesterday for the first time though) because they may sting them. Once, lots of years ago, I fed a mantis with a spider and the spider bite her.The mantis died in that case.

    Hi,

    I think i only lost one mantis to a be in about 15 years keeping them ;)

    And that was purely my fault because the mantis was a bit too small for the bee.


    What you should keep in mind is, the enclosure should not be to small, if they are still in a single-use-plastic-cup they might have not enough room to evade the bee.


    Also i do not know if honey bees are native/naturalised on the canary islands. I would guess so but if not its highly immoral to establish them.


    Greetings Simon :P

    Mantiden sind doch auch nur missgebildete Schaben.

    :twisted:

    Die Kultur von Honigbienen ist kein Naturschutz.

    Sure. Bees are common here. They use to be more common in the past ( like everywhere I guess). That would not be a problem at all. Just in case I'll check the permits and native bee species here. I could catch European wasps as well. They are very common in my garden.


    And the enclosure is neither a problem. They all are now in vivariums. I try to avoid the plastic cups as soon as I can 😂.


    Thank you!

    Well there you go ;)


    Get a nice bug-net and you have feeders availlable. For good karma you can offer the native insects some food or place.


    Greetings Simon :P

    Mantiden sind doch auch nur missgebildete Schaben.

    :twisted:

    Die Kultur von Honigbienen ist kein Naturschutz.