Mantis as Food?

[Animalnstinct]

I was just wondering if it's safe to feed any of my pacman praying mantis to give it a wider variety of food?

[85MkIISupRa]

I always thought that if they catch you killing a praying mantis its a fine, also i dont think its a good idea to feed a pacman wild caught stuff just because it can carry parasites that can harm your frog.

[Animalnstinct]

As far as I know there isn't any legal issues with them and they aren't endangered. The ones I would be feeding aren't wild caught they are captive bred. I know people use them to feed to some animals I'm just not for sure about with frogs, specifically pacman.

[Whistly]

Hi
I used to keep a New Zealand native and a South African Praying Mantis for nearly two years but decided to let them go as I couldn't get enough food for them as they both grew quite big around 12cm, I could hand feed them flies and up to 5 at a time. I would definitely say DON'T feed them to any type of frog as the claws on there arms can get very long the ones on my South African one grew to about 2cm long and I'm certain any animal/insect wouldn't be grateful to have those in them. They are also the most ruthless killer I've ever seen as they show no mercy and put my greedy frog Jabba to shame when it comes to killing, if they're anywhere near the size of your Pacmans they won't hesitate to have a go at it and when your frogs try to eat them the mantids will probably go for the face as it's closest thing to them and might gouge their eyes. Also when you put anything near their mouth they will try to eat it so if the head didn't get crushed then it wouldn't surprise me if they ate your frog from the inside out.They also can't be kept together as they are cannibals so you would need a lot of containers to keep a sustainable amount. In conclusion feeding them to your frogs is a bad idea heed my advice and stay away from them.
Thanks Luke

[Roman]

When you put it like that...Mantis sound Awesome!! I want one

[Whistly]

Yes they're awesome pets after a while they get used to you and you can place up to 5 flies in each claw and they just eat a piece of each fly at a time lol. It's also fun to put some in their enclosure and watch them eat I remember putting a cockroch in about the same size as my SA mantis and it cut it in half and had a half in each claw it didn't manage to eat one half though so I refridgerated the dead roch and hand fed it to it for about 2 weeks.

[Ebony]

I have heard of people here in NZ feeding captive breed Mantis as food..just the NZ common. I personally cant bring myself to do it as Ive had them as pets also. They are similar to Locusts in the way they grow and shed and if they are captive breed then I dont see a problem. The stages and sizes I would think could be suitable for all size frogs. This is going by NZ Mantis.

[Malachi]

I read or saw somewhere they are the most intelligent insect.

[gtr319]

mantis are awesome, they dun take up much space, they are fun to watch, etc... but they only get to live 1 yr... besides, there is hardly anywhere that sell 1 solo mantis...

[Ash pepperell]

mantis are awesome, they dun take up much space, they are fun to watch, etc... but they only get to live 1 yr... besides, there is hardly anywhere that sell 1 solo mantis...

You crazy?
Loads of places sell mantids. Usually as pets though.
This is the only US place that sells mantids that I know of.
Pet Tarantulas, Tarantulas for sale, Tarantulas, Scorpions, Centipedes, Bugging Out, Millipedes, Roaches and Pet bugs for Sale Sell Or Buy tarantulas wholesale. Spiders.
plus with an ooth you'll get a truck load

[gtr319]

@ Ash: hahaha, I only shop locally... and last time I almost got one, but the staff @ the store told me not to get it because its towards the end of its cycle... but still... 1 yr is too short...

[Whistly]

I just wouldn't feed them to frogs because frogs have quite big eyes and mantids can bend there claws behind there backs quite far so that would pose a danger to a frogs eyes.
At an old house I used to live at there was a frog that would hang around the pond which only had one eye its other eye was mutilated and was a pink mass probably from the rose bushes near the pond and I wouldn't want that to happen to one of my frogs.

[Socrates]

I would definitely say NO to using mantis as prey items for any frog. Preying mantis insects actually are quite strong, capable of lifting and/or fighting off adversaries 10-50times their body mass. Plus pair that with needle edged forearms and you have a perfect situation for injury to occur. Plus there are many other insects one could use to spice up the diet of their frogs/toads.

P.S. A really cool mantis species are the orchid ones - they can be bright pink and yellow, quite stunning actually!

[Whistly]

Yea the Orchids look awesome but you can't get them in NZ

[Socrates]

Well that's no fun :-( I have been thinking about getting one myself. I'll have to wait though because currently in Chicago we have two feet of snow and -30 degree wind chills. w00t!

[Animalnstinct]

That's what I was worried about. I've read lots of stuff on how vicious mantis are. but I figured I would ask because I heard of a few people feeding them to pacman. I think everyone is right on it not being worth the risk.

I will just have to keep them as pets and not as food too.

[pacmanfr0g13]

Hi
I used to keep a New Zealand native and a South African Praying Mantis for nearly two years but decided to let them go as I couldn't get enough food for them as they both grew quite big around 12cm, I could hand feed them flies and up to 5 at a time. I would definitely say DON'T feed them to any type of frog as the claws on there arms can get very long the ones on my South African one grew to about 2cm long and I'm certain any animal/insect wouldn't be grateful to have those in them. They are also the most ruthless killer I've ever seen as they show no mercy and put my greedy frog Jabba to shame when it comes to killing, if they're anywhere near the size of your Pacmans they won't hesitate to have a go at it and when your frogs try to eat them the mantids will probably go for the face as it's closest thing to them and might gouge their eyes. Also when you put anything near their mouth they will try to eat it so if the head didn't get crushed then it wouldn't surprise me if they ate your frog from the inside out.They also can't be kept together as they are cannibals so you would need a lot of containers to keep a sustainable amount. In conclusion feeding them to your frogs is a bad idea heed my advice and stay away from them.
Thanks Luke

Oh thank you thank you for your post!!!!!! I am a praying mantis breeder and I almost had a heart attack when I saw the title of this thread...