# Orchid mantis sick after eating soldier fly?



## AndrewFR (Jun 28, 2021)

I recently bought black soldier flies from the reptile store I usually buy flies from. I fed them to my orchid and two ghost mantids. The ghosts only ate part of the flies, and left part of the abdomen uneaten.

The orchid ate everything, then fell twitching to the floor almost immediately. A day later and he's on a leaf with his head near the ground. He responds when touched but is acting really strange. 

Are black soldier flies poisonous to mantids?

Is this the end for my first orchid? Can I do anything to help?


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 28, 2021)

I was feeding them to mine too. Most did get sick and some died. So I guess that they may have eaten toxic things in the garbage they could be raised on or something, i really dont know.


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## AndrewFR (Jun 28, 2021)

What was your mortality rate? 

I'm crossing my fingers for my orchid...


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## hibiscusmile (Jun 29, 2021)

Well I had quite a few, some were not orchids either, I am sorry but I did not keep count. I also had the same problem with feeding super worms. Some tolerate them, some did not. Which taught me lessons to not feed those.


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## AndrewFR (Jul 4, 2021)

Update. The orchid mantis seemed to recover after a day - climbing back up on a leaf and hanging out. However, the next time she ate a fly, it was obvious something was wrong. It appears that the digestive track was blocked and she died :-(. Perhaps it's related to eating the black soldier fly, since she was quite weak after, but it's hard to say for sure. 

RIP Robert (named before I knew it was a girl).


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 6, 2021)

Sorry, one would think she would of been ok after that.


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## agent A (Jul 18, 2021)

I have had a few random deaths after eating a BSF, but I've also had plenty of mantises eat them and be just fine. I think it's just a red herring

my frogs and axolotls eat the larvae and are just fine


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## beetles (May 25, 2022)

I'm very interested in this thread, because I'm starting to raise BSF for chickens, but feeding to mantids is a bonus. I'm really interested in if others have had problems with them. I've fed a few already to flower mantis penultimate and adults, they seemed to like them and are thriving (just one week so far). If anyone else used them (good or bad experience) I'd like to know, thanks!


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## The Wolven (May 25, 2022)

I’ve heard several different thing about them. Honestly I would not recommend them as different species tend to have different reactions to them.


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