von undercoverAnt » 11. Mär 2010 19:09
Hi Matt,
I keep the blatta lateralis, in a large ( tall - they can not climb plastic, or glass) plastic food storage bin, with a clip on lid. i heat half the surface of the base with an uncontrolled heatmat. the substrate is cactus soil ( so very gritty and dries out easily). I have given them a small polystyrene deli container for food, and spray them several times per week for drinking (plus water hydrated water gel crystals). I modified the container buy cutting a large section out from the lid, and replacing it with very fine gauge mesh to allow the colony to dry out quickly ( this is important they hate humidity). They live in amongst cardboard egg cartons. for food i feed them fish flakes, choped vegetables, cereals and fruit like apple. they lay eggcases (ootheca) and these hatch over a period of days. they are very low maintainence and will not escape smooth plastic or glass. any abraded or water maked areas, they will be able to climb. I would GUESS (not know) they wwould not be able to climb PTFE.
Flies: In the UK crickets have got ridiculously expensive like £2.99 - £3.50 per carton!!!! also they are often infected with Phorid flies flour worms, and mites. So I stopped using these a long time ago. instead I use flies alot. they are available as larvae (maggots) from any fishing tackle shop, for very reasonable prices £2.25 per pint so they are sold by volume i.e. however many fit in a pint glass!! so for £2.25 you get HUNDREDS. The main species avaiable are the blow fly / bluebottle (largest), The green bottle (middle sized) & the House fly (smallest - musca domestica). All can be pupated at warm room temparatures, ( 18 -25c), they do not require feeding, as all except the house fly feed exclusively on decaying flesh ( so not an option). I keep the maggots in a tall plastic jar, with a ladies ankle stocking over the top. this is important as the maggots must be allow a good airflow, to keep them dry ( they sweat alot) and to allow them to breath ( they breathe alot!). The other great reason for this stocking lid is, if you snip the "toe section" off the stocking and then tie a knot , when the flies hatch you can undo the knot put you hand in ( the elastic nature of the material means the stocking is tight round your wrist - so the flies can not fly out past you hand, you will get VERY few escapes this way). grab the flies you need and throw them in the tank. if you ants are not very agile, you can chill the flies in the freezer section of your refridgerator, and then snip one of the flies wings off with very sharp scissors. This means the flies can not fly, but will buzz about on the floor of the basin attracting ants to them.
Diet for the adult flies is very important - YOU MUST FEED THE ADULT FLIES. they do best on a diet of honey mixed with water and applesauce. If you do not feed the flies, they will die in days, and will be of NO Nutritional value to you ants, mantis, spiders....or what ever you are feeding them to.
Hope that helps Matt.
Let me know what you keep, maybe drop me a PM!
