# Using mantids for feeders



## Synapze (Aug 24, 2018)

Do any of you use mantids for feeders? I've never heard of this before! ?


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## minomantis (Aug 24, 2018)

When I first started raising mantids, I would house them all together and probably 5 would remain after all the carnage, but I didn't know any better.  I would feel wrong doing that now.  I mean I get it, but it feels wrong to do. idk...lol


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## ausar318 (Aug 24, 2018)

@minomantis I did the same thing in the beginning! 

Using mantids as feeders does seem a bit wrong, but if you really think about it, how are crickets and moths any different? (This coming from a conservationist friend of mine). 

Personally, I could never feed any of my mantids to another one. I’ve only had to do that once (purposely) in the last couple years. I have to give a L3 chinese nymph to my female orchid. The only reason I had to do it was because of the rain at the time. It rained, I’m not kidding, for an entire week, nonstop! And small moths don’t really come out when it is raining. AND! There weren’t any pet stores/bait shops near me. So it was with much regret, that I had to sacrifice the Chinese so the orchid could live. (I found the Chinese INSIDE the car anyway, so I could considered it to be a gift from God)

although, now that I’m thinking about it, I was on England’s EBay, and I remember seeing a man selling Ghost mantids, but he labeled them as feeders. In the item description, he kept talking about how they are great feeders. They were only like 5£ each (about $6.50). I was just confused as to why they were being sold as feeder insects. I tried to find the listing, but I can’t find it anymore. If only I took a screenshot...


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## Synapze (Aug 24, 2018)

ausar318 said:


> I was on﻿ England’s EBay, and I remember seeing a man selling Ghost mantids, but he labeled them as feeders. In the item description, he﻿ kept talking about how they are great feeders.﻿﻿


Perhaps he's trying to skirt eBay's no live animals policy. ?

eBay seems to give people a pass on selling feeders, but normally they pull items that include live animals. 

"My cat's hungry; I'll need a fresh kitten." Nope... I can't do it. ?


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## ausar318 (Aug 24, 2018)

That’s a good point, I never thought about that. Must be a lot stricter here in the IS, because there aren’t any kinds of mantids on eBay. 

Feeding a cat a kitten. Hehehe


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## Mantis Lady (Aug 24, 2018)

No, never thought of this idea. But i won't think feed another mantis to my mantis. For me a mantis is a pet and a cricket not.


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Aug 24, 2018)

Little Mantis said:


> No, never thought of this idea. But i won't think feed another mantis to my mantis. For me a mantis is a pet and a cricket not.


Me too. Gross.


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## ausar318 (Aug 24, 2018)

I agree. Mantids have attitudes, and seem to display some higher level thinking. Crickets, and all the other feeders for that matter, just have one thing in mind: perpetuation of the colony.


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## River Dane (Aug 24, 2018)

I did it before. It was a young _Stagmomantis _nymph, and I fed him to my dead leaf mantis after my fruit fly culture crashed. He was named and everything, but didn’t want the _desiccata_ to starve. I felt awful, and kept questioning what gave me the right to decide which mantid’s life was worth saving or sacrificing. Then I started thinking about feeders as well, but there’s unfortunately no substitutes for live prey when it comes to mantids.


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## Introvertebrate (Aug 24, 2018)

Mantids make nice hors d'oeuvres for chameleons.


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## Krissim Klaw (Aug 25, 2018)

I don't use mantises as feeders as I treat them like pets. They also make for for bad feeders to begin with as you need to feed them other feeders to and culturing them takes a lot of effort compared to much easier options. While their are people that like to occasional treat their reptiles/amphibians to mantises, it is done as a treat not as any sort of staple diet. Personally I wouldn't buy from someone trying to sell me on mantises being a good choice of feeders for my other pet mantises. =/



River Dane said:


> I did it before. It was a young _Stagmomantis _nymph, and I fed him to my dead leaf mantis after my fruit fly culture crashed. He was named and everything, but didn’t want the _desiccata_ to starve. I felt awful, and kept questioning what gave me the right to decide which mantid’s life was worth saving or sacrificing. Then I started thinking about feeders as well, but there’s unfortunately no substitutes for live prey when it comes to mantids.


In the future their are a variety of other foods you could offer for short term emergency situations so you don't need to sacrifice other mantises you were planning to keep as pets. Although mantids generally need motion to cue them into food, they will also readily take stuff if you offer something with moisture in it to their mandibles.


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## Rick (Aug 26, 2018)

I know they are common feeders for some reptiles amphibians. I don't see why not, a single Chinese ooth produces a lot of nymphs.


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## LamboMantisMan23 (Aug 26, 2018)

Isn't really necessary unless it's particularly part of a mantid's wild diet. Choeradodis for example, feed on mantids in the wild a lot, and mine take nymphs down with ease. When you have a overflow from ootheca which hatches 200+, it's a good thing to do.


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## MantisGirl13 (Aug 27, 2018)

I had to do it, sadly, once, but I would never do it again. I get that they could be good feeders, but they are also much more intelligent than moths or crickets, so I don't want to have to do it.

- MantisGirl13


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## Prayingmantisqueen (Aug 29, 2018)

I would just rather not promote cannibalism because possibly when mating time comes around maybe Miss will already be used to just eating her own kind and eat Mr without a second thought....idk just a thought. 

But I'd rather not promote it and hope I never have a situation where I am that desperate.. Banana works really good for emergency food too...


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