# How get polen on crickets?



## cloud jaguar (Feb 15, 2009)

Ok so my secretary brought me some polen the other day for my mantids. Its a long story, but somehow she now is keeping 9 mantids (S. Limbatas) I gave her and really likes them. She eats polen for health? or virility or something and gave me some for my mantis.

I crushed it up (hard as heck to do) with a malachite mortar and pestle into fine golden powder. *I thought it best to use the shake and bake method to put it onto the young crickets we mostly feed the mantids. We put crickets in a ziplock and put in some polen and shake them - then feed to mantis. But, the mantis dont always eat them so soon and the polen rubs off of them.

How can we get the polen to stick to them better?


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## PhilinYuma (Feb 15, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> Ok so my secretary brought me some polen the other day for my mantids. Its a long story, but somehow she now is keeping 9 mantids (S. Limbatas) I gave her and really likes them. She eats polen for health? or virility or something and gave me some for my mantis.I crushed it up (hard as heck to do) with a malachite mortar and pestle into fine golden powder. *I thought it best to use the shake and bake method to put it onto the young crickets we mostly feed the mantids. We put crickets in a ziplock and put in some polen and shake them - then feed to mantis. But, the mantis dont always eat them so soon and the polen rubs off of them.
> 
> How can we get the polen to stick to them better?


Yen Saw and Hiboscusmile are the experts on this!


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## Rick (Feb 15, 2009)

You are already doing it right. Dust the food with it. If your mantids are not eating the food quickly maybe you are feeding more than they can eat or something?


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 16, 2009)

i ALSO PUT it in all my feeder food, fruit fly cultures, cricket food, worm food, they all get some so the feeders get to eat it.


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## yen_saw (Feb 17, 2009)

Hey Phil i am no expert still learning the best way  

In order to dust crickets and let the pollen stays on I crushed the head of cricket before dusting, and handfeed for two reasons, 1) crickets won't rub off the pollen, 2) the "juice" squeeze out from crickets allows the pollen stick to it. Besides, leaving a live cricket with a not-so-hungary-mantis is not a good idea.







If you want your pollen to be more sticky add some honey powder, it stays pretty well on flies.


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## kamakiri (Feb 17, 2009)

I make a honey-pollen mix and paste it on their backs. Doing this the pollen balls 'melt' in the honey. No grinding needed and no loose pollen.


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## Dinora (Feb 17, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Hey Phil i am no expert still learning the best way  In order to dust crickets and let the pollen stays on I crushed the head of cricket before dusting, and handfeed for two reasons, 1) crickets won't rub off the pollen, 2) the "juice" squeeze out from crickets allows the pollen stick to it. Besides, leaving a live cricket with a not-so-hungary-mantis is not a good idea.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


  How often do you handfeed each one of your mantis? Because considering how many new babies you have...

Do you do this every day?


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## Katnapper (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks for the tips on getting the pollen onto the prey items, everyone.  

I do have a tip for what you _*shouldn't*_ do, lol. When I first ground up my pollen and was dusting crickets with it (I use those Solo or Glad plastic drinking cups, btw, instead of a bag to "shake and bake"), I did a really dumb thing.  I decided it didn't look like much was sticking to them. So I misted them with water in the cup, and then sprinkled a generous coating of ground pollen over them, swirling and shaking gently in the cup to coat. Most of the poor crickets keeled over and died within 5 minutes!  I think I likely suffocated them with the pollen goop coating. It was messy too... so I don't recommend this method at all!


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## Katnapper (Feb 17, 2009)

Oh, I forgot to mention.... thank you, Yen, for posting the pic of the mating _P. chlorophaea _couple! I just had 2 of them molt to adult last night, and was trying to figure out which sex they are. Now, from your pic, I know they are both female!


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## nasty bugger (Feb 18, 2009)

I'm thinking of putting some honey on something the crickets will hop on, be it a wax paper or what that can be laid in the bottom of an temporary enclosure, maybe heat it a bit to spread it thin or add a couple drops of water and heat it slightly, then add the crickets and let them hop in it, then put them in with a paper that has pollen spread on it, then, into the lair

You could use the ol' ambush method, and march them through a bottleneck, with honey and then pollen, then right into the lair, mmmhhhhaaaaahhaahhaa -_- B) B) 

I would think that a coffee grinder would make short work of that pollen. If there's not much pollen you might want to add a spoon of protein powder, like weight lifters like, and mix them together with the grinder.

I'm a yard saler, I'm considering joining yard salers anonymous, and electric coffee grinders, and humidifiers, and aquariums, and small fans, and plastic plants, and all that stuff can be found for next to nuthin', sometimes  

You can also make them fast for a day or two before feeding them the nectar of the goofs

that's what I'd try


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## yen_saw (Feb 19, 2009)

Dinora said:


> How often do you handfeed each one of your mantis? Because considering how many new babies you have... Do you do this every day?


Only those needed "extra care"  and yup doing it everyday but for different mantis.



Katnapper said:


> Oh, I forgot to mention.... thank you, Yen, for posting the pic of the mating _P. chlorophaea _couple! I just had 2 of them molt to adult last night, and was trying to figure out which sex they are. Now, from your pic, I know they are both female!


THat's great Becky! your Texas unicorn is probably the thrid or fourth generation from the original one i had back in January 2007. Keep them going Becky!


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## riegs22 (Feb 22, 2009)

What about trying to mix polen and water in a spray bottle and then misting the enclosure? maybe the mantis could get its polen by drinking the droplets?


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