# How Do You Use Bee Pollen?



## pedro92 (Jul 26, 2008)

I bought some bee pollen from mantisplace.com. They are small little chunks. Do i grind these into a powder or how do i do this?


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## Birdfly (Jul 26, 2008)

Yes mate, if they are chunks you will have to grind them into a fine powder so they stick to your mantids prey.

You can buy them from chemist's in fine powder form though  

Or grow a plant like pasiflora, the flowers possitively "hang" with pollen


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## Rick (Jul 26, 2008)

Grind it into a powder and dust the food. I have not really found it helping much. Guess it can't hurt though.


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## pedro92 (Jul 26, 2008)

What is the purpose of the pollen. I have heard it makes mantids better and bigger ooths???


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## mrblue (Jul 26, 2008)

Chameleonare said:


> What is the purpose of the pollen. I have heard it makes mantids better and bigger ooths???


i guess the purpose is pretty much what you stated, to do with increasing hatch rate etc. whether it works, well that's a different question...


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## The_Asa (Jul 26, 2008)

I use it occasionally, *shrug* not much more work anyway.


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## Krissim Klaw (Jul 27, 2008)

I'm far too lazy to grind and dust my feeder insects in pollen, so I just feed it to my crickets and let the mantises get the pollen in that second hand fashion.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 27, 2008)

:lol: Why didn't u ask me? Just throw a couple (2) tablespoons at a time into a blender on high speed and in a minute it will be powder! Yen used it all the time, that was good enough for me!


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## OGIGA (Jul 27, 2008)

Hmm, why didn't I think of using a blender? Well, I guess I'd be scared of getting allergies.


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## idolomantis (Jul 27, 2008)

gotta use that


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## pedro92 (Jul 27, 2008)

hibiscusmile said:


> :lol: Why didn't u ask me? Just throw a couple (2) tablespoons at a time into a blender on high speed and in a minute it will be powder! Yen used it all the time, that was good enough for me!


Cause you got a lot on your hands. I figured just ask the forum.

Blender worked well. I tried it a few days ago.

Also rebecca can you send me a message on how to breed house flies if you know how or anyone knows how.


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## idolomantis (Jul 27, 2008)

Chameleonare said:


> Cause you got a lot on your hands. I figured just ask the forum. Blender worked well. I tried it a few days ago.
> 
> Also rebecca can you send me a message on how to breed house flies if you know how or anyone knows how.


and while some1 is doing that copy it to me. i like to have a housfly carsheet 2.


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## hibiscusmile (Jul 28, 2008)

Go to www.spiderpharm.com, chuck has care sheets on how to raise them and a breeding pen.


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## OGIGA (Jul 28, 2008)

To you who use blenders for this, do any of you have seasonal allergies?


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## kamakiri (Sep 3, 2008)

I make a "honey-butter" with the pollen, and apply to refrigerated crickets before feeding to mantises. A cricket busy cleaning itself is an easy target.  

I bought too much pollen so I also use it as a supplement food for the crickets.


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## Quake (Sep 12, 2008)

A good blender will get it into a good dusting powder, but if you are like me and you have an older blender more for chopping, use a coffee grinder. It makes it into an extremely fine powder, like flour, which sticks to the feed easily.


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## BrontoT (May 23, 2009)

Hi.

The pollen can be digested by fruit flies well, so if you put a bit of pollen in these cultives and the fruit flies eat them it will be good to the mantis.

You can also put a little warm water and pollen and mix until a sticky, before feeding you must mud the prey and then give it to the mantid.


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## Christian (May 24, 2009)

I don't powder any mantis food. I dissolve vitamins into the fly food and, in case of pollen, I just put the chunks on top of the honey. I'm always using it.


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