Mantis as Food?

[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.