i need them for my mantis nymph!!!!!!!!!
2007-01-20 09:01:40 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Not sure ... check the phone book for pet shops specialising in tropical pets ... then phone them and ask if they sell either fruitflies or micro-crickets (also known as pin-heads)! It can be REALLY difficult to find information, but your mantis will be able to eat much bigger food after it's next moult, so don't get carried away!
If you have seen fruitflies in your home - or if someone you know has a compost heap - that will be more easy;
Get a small jam jar, or a plastic tub that's taller than it is wide.
Mash a little banana and dump it in the bottom.
Make a funnel out of paper, with just a very small hole at the tip.
Turn the funnel so that the tiny hole is pointing down into the bottom of the jar, and tape the edges around the top of the jar to make a fly-proof seal.
Put the jar where fruitflies might hang around.
When there are some flies in there, leave them for a couple of days - then you can feed the captured flies to your mantis, and wait for the maggots to pupate! It's a good idea to have 3 or 4 of these fly traps on the go, with a couple of days in between them. When the flies emerge, there's usually LOADS of them - and even if your mantis is bigger by then it'll be very happy!!
If, during this time, your mantis is in desperate need and your maggots haven't pupated yet, pick up a few maggots from the surface with tweezers, wipe them off a bit on a tissue, and put them in your mantid's home. If they don't get eaten, they'll pupate on the walls and be eaten when they emerge as flies!
As you only have ONE mantis nymph, you won't need that many fruit-flies ... but you'll probably have total chaos while you try to get food just the same!
Someone here might be able to offer more suggestions;
http://naturesbest.proboards3.com/index.cgi
but you'll have to register before you can post ... or maybe even SEE anything! (There was some weirdo posting strange things a while back, so security had to be tightened.) People from all over the place go there - although it IS quiet right now - Winter and all that! But some of the people from Britain might know of someone who knows someone who keeps mantids in Ireland..!
BTW, if you make those fruit-fly traps, be careful to dispose of them properly afterwards! They seem to make good cockroach traps for some reason ... they can climb in, but can't climb back out (or so it seems!) Maybe they get drunk on the rotting banana...???! (I left some on the veranda in the Summer...!)
2007-01-20 17:19:49 · answer #1 · answered by _ 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
He said fruit FLIES you doofus! leave out an orange or something on your doorstep. This should attract lots of... wildlife...
2007-01-20 17:14:55 · answer #2 · answered by LolDuck 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ya...can't you just "grow your own" by leaving out a banana or something.
2007-01-20 21:09:54 · answer #3 · answered by anemonecanadensis 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
there are fruits all over the world
2007-01-20 17:09:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋