# will mantids eat cicadas?



## sally (Apr 10, 2013)

I just saw on the news it is going to be a big year for cicadas. It would be nice if they were a delicacy for mantids


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## D_Hemptress (Apr 10, 2013)

i just read a little blurp about them, interesting! id ont see why a mantis couldnt eat and enjoy them


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## aNisip (Apr 10, 2013)

The love em!!!


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## frogparty (Apr 10, 2013)

My first real memory of a mantis is finding a very large female mantis eating a cicada in my grandmas garden in Maryland


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## angelofdeathzz (Apr 10, 2013)

I would only try it with a larger mantis or it may get pulled all over the enclosure, maybe even go hang gliding for a bit...


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## aNisip (Apr 10, 2013)

angelofdeathzz said:


> I would only try it with a larger mantis or it may get pulled all over the enclosure, maybe even go hang gliding for a bit...


Some of my younger more aggressive mantids have experienced this


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## Tony C (Apr 10, 2013)

The real question is, can they eat cicada killers? :devil:


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## Mime454 (Apr 10, 2013)

I don't think that we in the Midwest get cicadas this time. It's for the east coast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magicicada#Broods


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## agent A (Apr 10, 2013)

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Miomantis_caffra_eating_a_New_Zealand_cicada.jpg


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## Malakyoma (Apr 10, 2013)

13 billion cicadas appearing along the east coast. I wonder how I would be able to find and catch or trap them? imagine all the yummy food for my babies


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## Fishe (Apr 10, 2013)

id like to know an answer to this as well


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## frogparty (Apr 10, 2013)

Tony- cicada killers are scary as


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## brancsikia339 (Apr 10, 2013)

I have cicada killer nests all over my and my neighbor's yards. I catch em every year for fun. Never got stung! The big 4 inch females are crazy! Anyway i bet my aggressive orchid female would take some down


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## frogparty (Apr 10, 2013)

When I was growing up in Nashville we had some nests in our garage and shed. They used to chase me around


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## brancsikia339 (Apr 10, 2013)

frogparty said:


> When I was growing up in Nashville we had some nests in our garage and shed. They used to chase me around


yeah they're nasty


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## agent A (Apr 10, 2013)

frogparty said:


> Tony- cicada killers are scary as


how'd u bypass the filter? :lol:


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## Digger (Apr 10, 2013)

frogparty said:


> Tony- cicada killers are scary as


Curious that the uber filter Rick has set up (it deletes "darn") missed frog's inappropriate descriptive.


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## Digger (Apr 10, 2013)

Malakyoma said:


> 13 billion cicadas appearing along the east coast. I wonder how I would be able to find and catch or trap them? imagine all the yummy food for my babies


Mike - your babies are gonna have to be big. Gimongous big. Cicadas are large (and as stupid as brown marmorated stink bugs). I can see adult T. sinensis and similar size feasting on these. But small mantids might get thrown around like they're on a run away Patton Tank.

To capture them: Walk up to one. Say: "Hello Ugly. You're gonna be lunch." Grab them by the wings. Put them in a container.


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2013)

Absolutely. If you can catch them during the emergence you have a free and awesome food source for awhile.


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## Digger (Apr 10, 2013)

Wow, Rick. Fat girl ! Was she prego?


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## angelofdeathzz (Apr 10, 2013)

They're very loud, they make unique sound at high decibels, so finding them isn't that hard. But when they're 20 ft up a tree, thats another story.

How did he get by the filter? Hey he did it so he shouldn't get any warning points as a prize!


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## Malakyoma (Apr 10, 2013)

angelofdeathzz said:


> They're very loud, they make unique sound at high decibels, so finding them isn't that hard. But when they're 20 ft up a tree, thats another story.
> 
> How did he get by the filter? Hey he did it so he shouldn't get any warning points as a prize!


Thats what I'm thinking about is when they're up in the trees. When do they come down? How can I get them before they go up there, or when they come down? I have a lot of big mantids that would feast on those.


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## sally (Apr 10, 2013)

Mime454 said:


> I don't think that we in the Midwest get cicadas this time. It's for the east coast.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magicicada#Broods


. Yes that is what it said on the news East coast... But I get some in my yard maybe I'll try one or two.. for the mantids not me lol


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## Digger (Apr 10, 2013)

Can't answer for Eastern Canada. Here in NJ / PA, there are SO many, you can easily find tons that lose their footing and fall off the tree. Or capture those just starting to climb. They're everywhere. driveways, stairwells, on your grill, chasing your neighbor's wife.. You won't have a problem collection them.


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## sally (Apr 10, 2013)

brancsikia339 said:


> I have cicada killer nests all over my and my neighbor's yards. I catch em every year for fun. Never got stung! The big 4 inch females are crazy! Anyway i bet my aggressive orchid female would take some down


. I never saw a cicadas killer. I will look it up


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## Ambystoma (Apr 10, 2013)

Not to mention at the end of their season they slow way down. I remember being in Ohio for one and seeing half dead cicadas littering the sidewalks. If there is a big emergence you will have no trouble.


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## sally (Apr 10, 2013)

Digger said:


> Can't answer for Eastern Canada. Here in NJ / PA, there are SO many, you can easily find tons that lose their footing and fall off the tree. Or capture those just starting to climb. They're everywhere. driveways, stairwells, on your grill, chasing your neighbor's wife.. You won't have a problem collection them.


 lol yes it showed a person walking through them. They were up to their ankles in cicadas as the cicadas were emerging out of the ground.


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## Digger (Apr 10, 2013)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/03/the-cicadas-are-coming.html

Good introduction to the invasion. Mike M. - you may not get the full force of the brood up there, according to this.


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## aNisip (Apr 10, 2013)

brancsikia339 said:


> I have cicada killer nests all over my and my neighbor's yards. I catch em every year for fun. Never got stung! The big 4 inch females are crazy! Anyway i bet my aggressive orchid female would take some down


Can u send me a nest?! Please! I would love some! (seriously, lol) When they are emerging...it is a super easy meal for the mantids...


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## mantid_mike (Apr 11, 2013)

Wish I could catch those here in LA. The only time I've seen them is when I'd go to the desert a couple of hours away on family trips when I was a little kid. (Palm Springs, CA)


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## Tony C (Apr 11, 2013)

AndrewNisip said:


> Can u send me a nest?! Please! I would love some! (seriously, lol)


Their nests are underground tunnels, not the typical paper wasp nest.


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## Rick (Apr 11, 2013)

Digger said:


> Wow, Rick. Fat girl ! Was she prego?


All adult females are pregnant technically speaking.


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## Sticky (Apr 11, 2013)

Darn! The pbs link says they a re not going to come out here in Maine!


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## Introvertebrate (Apr 11, 2013)

Malakyoma said:


> Thats what I'm thinking about is when they're up in the trees. When do they come down? How can I get them before they go up there, or when they come down? I have a lot of big mantids that would feast on those.


Pretty much the only time they're near the ground is when the larvae first emerge and then shed into cicadas. Some sort of net over the ground might catch a few before they fly away. I see the larvae skins attached to trees and houses, so they don't morph until they get a few feet above the ground. Occasionally I'll find a mature cicada on the front porch in the morning. They're attracted to the light at night. In the morning, they're still cool and sluggish, so you can sneak up on them and catch them by hand. Once they warm up they fly back up to the tree tops.


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