# Boxelder Feeder Bug?



## Mvalenz (Dec 31, 2011)

I caught a boxelder bug. Want to know if it is ok to feed to mantis?


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## ismart (Dec 31, 2011)

Yes, it's okay to feed to your mantis.


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## meaganelise9 (Dec 31, 2011)

Not a popular choice in my experience. Few things in nature want to eat those.


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## patrickfraser (Dec 31, 2011)

They put off a stink, don't they?. They are also marked to say "stay away" with that red. It may be an "acquired" taste, but you have to try it once to acquire a taste for it in the first place. Give it a try.


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## ismart (Dec 31, 2011)

Mantids are not deterred by the smell nor taste. I have witnessed many a mantid feeding on them in the wild. I think it's defensive mechanism work best with birds, mammals, and reptiles.


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## gripen (Dec 31, 2011)

Mantids can eat more than people give them credit for. Remember they eat monarchs and those are highly toxic. That being said just because they can eat it doesn't mean they WILL eat it.


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## ismart (Dec 31, 2011)

If the mantis does not like it, it will simply toss it aside. No worries!


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## Fichte (Dec 31, 2011)

Hey,

u can feed pretty much to your mantis... if she catch it herself she know what to do

I often feed spiders, so i dont think that Boisea sp. are a problem =P

best regards


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## Mvalenz (Dec 31, 2011)

This little budwing is ferocious. She actually went after it. Didn't wait for it to crawl by like my old Chinese mantis. she made short time of the boxelder bug. She loved it. Can't wait to be able to catch more outside when it gets warm out.


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## Fichte (Dec 31, 2011)

Yea Parasphendale are really aggressive :devil: 

When they adult they eat phasmids which are much biger then them







best regards


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## Chivalry (Jan 1, 2012)

Good to know as the side of my house is absolutely overrun with these in the spring. Can't wait till I can catch a gazillion bugs to feed everyone when it gets warmer!


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## Chivalry (Jan 24, 2012)

Found one of these in the house yesterday (it is end of January and still not much sign of winter here). Anyway My C. pictipennis was the lucky recipient. She tends to be the right size for experimental offerings in my bunch and she enthusiastically has hunted, killed and eaten everything... Till now. She chewed on it a little and dropped it. If Kali ain't eating it, ain't nobody eating it. Darn, I get millions in the spring.


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## Mvalenz (Jan 25, 2012)

My budwing is not very selective. She eats anything. She ate a cricket the night of her last molt. What a glutton!


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## Chivalry (Jan 25, 2012)

She actually ended up eating it but I don't think she appreciated it very much


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## sporeworld (Jan 26, 2012)

Yeah - none of mine would touch them. And the Boxelders are pretty fierce themselves - at least towards prey items,

I had intended to smash the next one I found, and see if my Idolos would eat the mushy remains, but I didn't see another one for the rest of the season.


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## Mvalenz (Jan 26, 2012)

Boxelder bugs just eat plants and female boxelder tree seed pods. If they are a problem you can find the tree in your neighborhood and chop it down. I use to feed them to spiders around my house.


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## sporeworld (Jan 26, 2012)

Doh! Sorry, I was thinking of those stupid Wheel Bugs...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_bug

Nasty critters....


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## Mvalenz (Jan 26, 2012)

Oh yeah. Those guys are beasts. But I saw a vid of someone handling them like kittens. And the nymphs look cool.


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## sporeworld (Jan 26, 2012)

Yeah - they never messed with ME, but they were brutally attacking some other prey items I was collecting (I think it was a moth). Pretty frightening.


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