The Manduca Project

Rearing Manducas: Preparing Manduca Diet

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Building larva box
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Preparing diet

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Print Manual

Why use artificial diet?

A major hurdle in biological research is raising the research organism. Many organisms are expensive to maintain in terms of time and labor. Research insects such as the African migratory locust, Colorado potato beetle, and aphids require living plants for food. This requires considerable effort and space for both the insect and its host plant(s).

An advantage of using Manduca sexta is that you can feed it an artificial diet made from easily available ingredients. This diet can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. To keep your larvae growing strong, give them fresh food from your supply every day.

Provided by The Manduca Project

173 g artificial Manduca diet mix
13 g agar

What you need to prepare the artificial diet:

One-liter (or one quart) household blender
heavy-duty aluminum foil or a plastic container
Measuring cup or 1 liter graduated cylinder
Rubber spatula
Yardstick
Scissors
Marker
Paper towels
Microwave or hot plate to boil water

Diet
There are four separate packets of diet - store the dry diet in the refrigerator. To prevent spoilage, prepare the diet using one packet at a time and store the reconstituted diet in the refrigerator. Use all the diet before mixing a second packet.

Container
You can make your own container from aluminum foil or purchase a similar sized container.

How to make your own container:

	Cut a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil 27 inches long by 11 inches wide (or use two layers of regular strength foil).
	Fold the foil in half lengthwise, to 13 inches by 11 inches.
	Measure three inches from each side and mark as shown.
	Fold the foil in along each line as shown
	Fold the sides up to make a box. Fold the corners diagonally to form the "wings", as shown.
	Fold and tape the "wings" in against the sides of the box. You should now have a container measuring 7.5 Inches long, 5 inches wide, and 3 inches high
How to successfully mix the diet: There are four separate packets of diet - store the dry diet in the refrigerator. To prevent spoilage, prepare diet using one packet at a time and store the reconstituted diet in the refrigerator. Use all the diet before mixing a second packet.
	Bring 4 cups (1 liter) of water to a full boil. Pour 3 cups (710 ml) of the boiling water into the blender.* You need to boil extra water to be sure you have 3 cups. Quickly add the 13 grams of agar. Mix on low speed until the agar is fully mixed and dissolved. (This is critical!) *It is critical that the water be boiling when added to the blender, otherwise the agar will not dissolve and the diet will be mushy.
	Add the 173 grams of diet mix. Blend on high until the diet forms a smooth and consistent mixture. Mix the diet with the spatula a few times to allow it to blend until smooth.
	Using the rubber spatula, scrape the diet into the foil container and smooth the top surface of the diet. Cover with a paper towel and allow it to cool at room temperature. After the diet has set, cover the container with foil and keep it refrigerated.