# pollen!



## agent A (Feb 21, 2021)

hey all,

so last year I read an article that pollen in the diet of hatchling mantises reduces mortality rate, and so I make it a habit to keep sprigs of some flowering plant with flowers in hatchling setups. right now, I am forcing out willow stems for this purpose  and will use willow through its blooming cycle (until May)

anyone else do this? anyone else interested in male willow sprigs for this type of thing?


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 21, 2021)

I havent, let us know how it turns out.l


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## TheWrongCrowd (Feb 22, 2021)

I heard about this as well. I usually feed my flies the pollen though, however I'd love to know how it turns out for you. I actually got some male willow sprigs for this a bit ago to try out, but I wanted to learn more about it first. Best of luck!


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## happy1892 (Feb 25, 2021)

Hello agent A (Alex, *mantisloverguy6000)*!  Long time since I have been on mantidforum.  How are you? 

 I was thinking about using honeybees as feeders for mantises.  Honeybees have pollen in their guts I believe (I see yellow and orange in the guts of our squished bees).

You can overwinter honeybees indoors, sending out a PVC pipe from the entrance of the hive through a wooden baffle out the window.  Here in North Carolina we have pollen year round, so if you feed sugar syrup to the hive, they will produce more bees.  

I have also thought about putting mantises in screen cages that have screens large enough for honeybees to get through the screen, yet keep the mantis in.  I would put a light bulb in each screen cage to attract the honeybees into the screen cage for the mantises to eat the bees.  So I would have to just release some bees out of a hole in the hive indoors and turn the light bulbs on in the screen cages for feeding time.  Haven't actually tried this idea, though.

-Nathaniel Long


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## TheWrongCrowd (Feb 26, 2021)

happy1892 said:


> Hello agent A (Alex, *mantisloverguy6000)*!  Long time since I have been on mantidforum.  How are you?
> 
> I was thinking about using honeybees as feeders for mantises.  Honeybees have pollen in their guts I believe (I see yellow and orange in the guts of our squished bees).
> 
> ...


Thats interesting, I'd love to know how that goes


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## Mantidfinatic13 (Mar 1, 2021)

happy1892 said:


> Hello agent A (Alex, *mantisloverguy6000)*!  Long time since I have been on mantidforum.  How are you?
> 
> I was thinking about using honeybees as feeders for mantises.  Honeybees have pollen in their guts I believe (I see yellow and orange in the guts of our squished bees).
> 
> ...


Sounds like a great experiment!


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## happy1892 (Mar 1, 2021)

TheWrongCrowd said:


> Thats interesting, I'd love to know how that goes


I sure will!  Thanks!


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## agent A (Mar 1, 2021)

happy1892 said:


> Hello agent A (Alex, *mantisloverguy6000)*!  Long time since I have been on mantidforum.  How are you?
> 
> I was thinking about using honeybees as feeders for mantises.  Honeybees have pollen in their guts I believe (I see yellow and orange in the guts of our squished bees).
> 
> ...


hi Nathaniel,

i have been really busy

that idea sounds like it would need a lot of technical skill in setting up pipes and such. I would just net the bees and toss them into cups. but i wouldn't rely on bees as a sole food source: variety is best


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## happy1892 (Mar 1, 2021)

mantisloverguy6000 said:


> hi Nathaniel,
> 
> i have been really busy
> 
> that idea sounds like it would need a lot of technical skill in setting up pipes and such. I would just net the bees and toss them into cups. but i wouldn't rely on bees as a sole food source: variety is best


Hello!  I saw you posting scientific articles on insects I think. (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alex-Baranowski Is this you?)   I was excited to see that you were already doing such things! 

Actually, the PVC pipes are easy to set-up.  Lifting the bee hive is the hard part... I get smaller hives that are lighter.  You cut the PVC pipe to the right size with a skill saw or sharp hand saw.  You get a piece of wooden board to fit under the window for a baffle to let the pipe go outside (drill the right size hole, I forgot what kind of drilling piece it is called, but it makes large holes.).  Then you attatch the pipe to a hole in the bee hive (the bee hive's entrance) with a screw and screwdriver (pre-drill a hole through the plastic pipe for the screw to go through).  

Sorry, I know pictures would be worth a thousand words to explain this, but I don't have any handy at the moment to show.

Sincerely, Nathaniel Long


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## agent A (Mar 1, 2021)

happy1892 said:


> Hello!  I saw you posting scientific articles on insects I think. (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alex-Baranowski Is this you?)   I was excited to see that you were already doing such things!
> 
> Actually, the PVC pipes are easy to set-up.  Lifting the bee hive is the hard part... I get smaller hives that are lighter.  You cut the PVC pipe to the right size with a skill saw or sharp hand saw.  You get a piece of wooden board to fit under the window for a baffle to let the pipe go outside (drill the right size hole, I forgot what kind of drilling piece it is called, but it makes large holes.).  Then you attatch the pipe to a hole in the bee hive (the bee hive's entrance) with a screw and screwdriver (pre-drill a hole through the plastic pipe for the screw to go through).
> 
> ...


yes. I have published 8 articles, 5 first authored papers


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## lectricblueyes (Mar 2, 2021)

I'm very curious to see what you find.  I have really good mortality rates but adding pollen is an interesting idea.  I know years ago (2008/2009) I believe Peter sold pollen on his site to "dust" the feeders  before giving to the mantid.  Pollen dust is pretty cheap ($10/pound) and a pound could last a very long time.


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## agent A (Mar 3, 2021)

lectricblueyes said:


> I'm very curious to see what you find.  I have really good mortality rates but adding pollen is an interesting idea.  I know years ago (2008/2009) I believe Peter sold pollen on his site to "dust" the feeders  before giving to the mantid.  Pollen dust is pretty cheap ($10/pound) and a pound could last a very long time.


yes. i actually was hoping to have hatchlings of something for this exact reason, but I don't currently so now i have rooted gray willow stems with catkins in the lab with nobody to use them

there will be other chances though


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## lectricblueyes (Mar 3, 2021)

Sure.  Let me know what you find!!


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