Feeder Insect Care

Crickets Feed wheat bran and quartered potato or Fluker’s Cricket Quencher Cubes for water. Store at room temperature.

Mealworms Leave in the medium they shipped in, and store in the refrigerator. Every 10 days warm up the mealworms to room temperature for 24 hours, and put a split carrot on the medium for moisture. After the 24 hours is done, pull the carrot off the medium and refrigerate. Mealworms will be viable for about 90 days using this system.

Mighty King Worms (Giants) Leave in the medium they shipped in and refrigerate. Giants are kept totally dormant and do not need any warm up or moisture. Giants will be viable for about 90 days.

Super Worms Leave in the medium they shipped in, and add a fresh split carrot to the top of the medium for moisture. Keep at 75 degrees - REFRIGERATION KILLS SUPERS. Will be viable for about 17 days.

Fruit Flies The 32 ounce D. melanogaster or hydei fruit fly culture needs nothing but the right temperature to produce THOUSANDS of fruit flies. At 78 degrees you obtain maximum production, at 68 degrees you will keep the culture alive, but slow the rate of production. At 68 degrees the culture will last for months. Our medium has mold inhibitors and yeast in the medium. To obtain 78 degree temperatures, do not put direct heat on the culture as it will dry out the medium, reducing your culture’s life. Click here for the detailed guide to raising Fruit Flies.

Houseflies Housefly pupae can be stored in the refrigerator for about 7 days after you receive them from Mantis Place and stay viable. The closer you get to the 7 day mark, the less pupae hatch. We suggest that you hatch out all the pupae when you get them since the adults will live about 30 days with honey and water, which will double your viability. Please see Cup-O-Flies Hatching Container.

Blue Bottle Flies Blue Bottle fly larvae (re: maggots) can be stored in the refrigerator, but REQUIRE only minimal air, so keep them in the shipping container, in the medium they shipped in. When receiving Blue Bottle maggots, you can refrigerate the maggots and they will go into a dormant state, and will be viable approximately 2 months under refrigeration. Take out what you want to pupate; leaving them in the container (and in the stinking sawdust medium) they came in, at room temperature. Once they pupate, keep out what you want to feed off, and they will hatch in about 5 days. Due to the nasty smell, once they pupate, dump the pupae and media into a course strainer to separate most of sawdust medium from the pupae. Put the rest of the pupae back in the refrigerator, refrigerated pupae are viable for about two weeks. The adult flies will live about 7 days with honey and water.

Once the pupae are running out, take out more maggots to repeat the process again. The challenge is in estimating the pupation time, and hatch time, without running out!

 Please see Cup-O-Flies Hatching Container.

Phoenix Worms The Phoenix Worm has the highest calcium and phosphorous levels of any feeder insect!. They do not eat, drink, grow, hatch or escape. Leave them at about 65 degrees and they will be viable for about a month! Check out the comparison chart below!


Waxworms The Waxworm is actually a larvae of the Bee Moth. They are creamy white and have a soft body with no chiton, and are easy to digest. They are rich in protein water and fat, and due to the high fat content should not be the main part of a pets’ diet. Waxworms do not eat or drink, can be kept in the refrigerator, but are viable longest when kept at 50 to 60 degrees. Make sure that the container is dry, as moisture will kill the culture. Wipe out any condensation inside the container.

Butter Worms Butterworms are a user-friendly feeder insect. They do not need food or water (although they may eat a little of their bran bedding), they can be refrigerated for 2 months with minimal loss. Keep the bedding dry, pick out any dead worms, and that is all the maintenance there is to this feeder! This worm is imported from Peru, and will not pupate, as it has been irradiated to stop pupation.

Goliath Worms The Goliath Worm is one of the most fastest growing, LARGEST feeder insects in the world! The worms come in a self contained cup with about two weeks food, all you do is turn the cup upside down when you get it, and the Goliath Worms climb the screen mesh in the cup to go up to eat the food! Take the lid off to dump the waste as needed. We typically get about 12 small worms in a container, although if the bigger worms are all that are in stock at the supplier, the cups have less worms, but the meals are BIGGER! These worms grow so fast on the Goliath Chow in the cup, you will be amazed! Buy an 8 ounce bag of dried Goliath Chow if you want to grow your worms past the two week mark, you mix it with water and cook it on the stove or microwave it. The 8 ounce bag will make 2 pounds of food, and keeps in the powdered form in the refrigerator "forever". The Goliath Worm does well at room temperature, but at 78° to 82° will grow fast!
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO KEEP THE HABITAT CLEAN, the worms are laying in their own poop (frass)!! Clean with disposable gloves, and clean often.
The bright green color of these worms trigger fussy eaters.

You can also grow the worms to adulthood and get a moth with a wingspan of 3-4 inches! These make a great classroom study insect.

Silk Worms  Silk worms are a soft bodied great source of protein for your pet. They are typically shipped in the small size which is 1/4 to 1/2 inch in length. They grow at a fast rate, and eat Silkworm Chow which you make out of a powdered chow mix (unless you have fresh Mulberry leaves available).
There are several tricks to keeping silkworms. 80° is optimal to reduce losses. Use disposable gloves when you handle the worms, as they can pick up infections easily. The waste (called FRASS) must be removed from the worms, as it can be a source of bacterial infections. We have the ultimate system to raise silkworms which makes it EASY for you, and EASY for the worms to survive. Please see the Goliath Worm/Silkworm Raising Habitat.
Another option is to raise the silkworms from eggs which we offer, but be aware that the smaller the worm, the more time and patience is required! We would suggest strongly that you start with smalls or larger sizes first, before you try eggs. If you use the Goliath Hornworm/Silkworm Raising Habitat, your chances are high that you will have a good experience.
The silkworms do well at room temperature, and need no water, as it is in the Silkworm Chow. Don't forget to purchase the Silkworm Chow with your silkworms!! DO NOT make the chow runny. It should cut like a soft cheese with no liquid seeping out. If you give watery food, you get watery FRASS, and it is better to throw soupy food away than deal with what comes out as a result, trust me.

 

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Many of the images on Mantis Place are from Igor Siwanowicz.
Click here for his fantastic work!