# Honey for mantises



## reptilia5 (Feb 20, 2014)

I have heard that some mantis owners offer honey to their mantises. I would like to know the reasons behind this and if mantises actually seek out honey in the wild. Thanks to anyone who can educate me on this.


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## Shadow (Feb 20, 2014)

I'm pretty sure it's just a treat like banana


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## Extrememantid (Feb 20, 2014)

Yes, it is just to spoil your beloved pet  ..


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## I_love_mantids (Feb 20, 2014)

If you don't want your mantis to get in a sticky mess like with honey, you can buy dried honey or banana


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## Rick (Feb 20, 2014)

I don't but I do feed my personal honey to feeder flies. You certainly don't have to give your mantids honey.


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## devetaki9 (Feb 20, 2014)

They love it though and it's worth it to see them wiggle their little bums in appreciation


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## Sticky (Feb 21, 2014)

Using it helps train them to sit on your hand. I learned that with my first Hierodula multisina, Martha.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 21, 2014)

it is just a perk for a bug owner, never necessary, but fun nonetheless and a good "see the mantis won't hurt you" when showing a child they are not scary!


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## sinder151 (Mar 4, 2014)

Ive read that you can put honey on small wounds on your mantis and it will not infect the mantis, and Mantises do look for Honeybees in the Nature. there is a few youtube movies, im not sure if i can post the link so i wont. but google praying mantis eating honey bees on google and you will see that they catch honeybees for the honey. and i give my Mantises honey sometimes, and it looks like they really love it. 
so if you have a mantis and it have a small wound, put some honey on the wound and it will heal.


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## Digger (Mar 4, 2014)

Just ditto to the other comments. The sp I've raised do like an occasional honey treat. I've also used it with enormous success to treat wounds (particularly abdominal and tarsi or larger leg segment loss or early breakage). It's a proven anti-bacterial ( ask the ancient Egyptians). My current Tenodera sinensis had a critical ab wound when she fell while free ranging about four months ago. The breech was severe and her guts were oozing out. In the emergency room I strategically painted organic honey around the wound. It sealed it, of course. Tiffany went on to lay 6 ooths since the fall. She's now 79 in human years.

Honey is a mantis miracle.


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## sinder151 (Mar 5, 2014)

Indeed, medicinal importance of honey has been documented in the world's oldest medical literatures, and since the ancient times, it has been known to possess antimicrobial property as well as wound-healing activity. The healing property of honey is due to the fact that it offers antibacterial activity, maintains a moist wound condition, and its high viscosity helps to provide a protective barrier to prevent infection. Its immunomodulatory property is relevant to wound repair too. The antimicrobial activity in most honeys is due to the enzymatic production of hydrogen peroxide. However, another kind of honey, called non-peroxide honey (_viz._, manuka honey), displays significant antibacterial effects even when the hydrogen peroxide activity is blocked. Its mechanism may be related to the low pH level of honey and its high sugar content (high osmolarity) that is enough to hinder the growth of microbes. The medical grade honeys have potent _in vitro_ bactericidal activity against antibiotic-resistant bacteria causing several life-threatening infections to humans. But, there is a large variation in the antimicrobial activity of some natural honeys, which is due to spatial and temporal variation in sources of nectar. Thus, identification and characterization of the active principle(s) may provide valuable information on the quality and possible therapeutic potential of honeys (against several health disorders of humans), and hence we discussed the medicinal property of honeys with emphasis on their antibacterial activities.

I have not wroten this, its copy and pasted from the Goverment - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609166/


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 5, 2014)

I feel stupid, I could not keep up with even reading that! :helpsmilie: All I ever used it for was eating!


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## Golden State Vivs (Mar 6, 2014)

LOL hibiscus, don't feel stupid. Those aren't even sinder151's original words, that was ripped from the US National Library of Medicine...literally, copy + pasted.

You should probably cite your reference material sinder. Also, mantids don't "catch honeybees for the honey." Honeybees gather nectar, take it to the hive and metabolize it into honey (a very rudimentary explanation). The mantids opportunistically capture and eat honeybees, along with other small insects, both flying and terrestrial.

While i've never fed my mantids honey, I have dusted their feeders with bee pollen.


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## PlayingMantis (Mar 6, 2014)

Two of my shields probably ate from the same bad batch of crickets that killed my ghost. They were throwing up like there was no tomorrow, and I've been feeding them honey mixed with water for the past few days. Today their frass have become normal, and they're hunting and eating again. Of course, this particular experience doesn't really prove that honey cured my mantids - maybe they would've recovered on their own. Who knows. But I do want to believe that the honey water helped!


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## sinder151 (Mar 6, 2014)

Golden State Vivs said:


> LOL hibiscus, don't feel stupid. Those aren't even sinder151's original words, that was ripped from the US National Library of Medicine...literally, copy + pasted.
> 
> You should probably cite your reference material sinder. Also, mantids don't "catch honeybees for the honey." Honeybees gather nectar, take it to the hive and metabolize it into honey (a very rudimentary explanation). The mantids opportunistically capture and eat honeybees, along with other small insects, both flying and terrestrial.
> 
> While i've never fed my mantids honey, I have dusted their feeders with bee pollen.


Yes i havent wroten that, but its not from US national library it was from a Goverment website, it had Gov in the end of the link.


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## Extrememantid (Mar 8, 2014)

Golden State Vivs said:


> LOL hibiscus, don't feel stupid. Those aren't even sinder151's original words, that was ripped from the US National Library of Medicine...literally, copy + pasted.
> 
> You should probably cite your reference material sinder. Also, mantids don't "catch honeybees for the honey." Honeybees gather nectar, take it to the hive and metabolize it into honey (a very rudimentary explanation). The mantids opportunistically capture and eat honeybees, along with other small insects, both flying and terrestrial.
> 
> While i've never fed my mantids honey, I have dusted their feeders with bee pollen.


Wh does it matter if it was copy and pasted? It's still good information.. I know it's plagiarism but if it's good info it's good info. No need to complain.


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## Rick (Mar 10, 2014)

Extrememantid said:


> Wh does it matter if it was copy and pasted? It's still good information.. I know it's plagiarism but if it's good info it's good info. No need to complain.


You just answered your own question. And yes there is reason to complain. Plagiarism is serious.

sinder151 you need to have a reference for that information or the post will be removed/warning points issued.


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## reptilia5 (May 8, 2014)

Digger said:


> Just ditto to the other comments. The sp I've raised do like an occasional honey treat. I've also used it with enormous success to treat wounds (particularly abdominal and tarsi or larger leg segment loss or early breakage). It's a proven anti-bacterial ( ask the ancient Egyptians). My current Tenodera sinensis had a critical ab wound when she fell while free ranging about four months ago. The breech was severe and her guts were oozing out. In the emergency room I strategically painted organic honey around the wound. It sealed it, of course. Tiffany went on to lay 6 ooths since the fall. She's now 79 in human years.
> 
> Honey is a mantis miracle.


Very interesting and useful information,doctor.I will keep that in mind in case I have to face an emergency like that. that being said, how does one determine mantis age to human years? Would it be like ten human years to one month of mantis age?


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## devetaki9 (May 9, 2014)

*duplicate* see below


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## devetaki9 (May 9, 2014)

Ok seriously, Sinder amended DIRECTLY BELOW the original post they made, that they DID NOT write it and cited the link from where it came from.... Pay attention folks.... No plagiarism going on here. It's not stolen if it's shared and credit is given......

Huge clue for me even before they amended the post was the font.......... This is not the font found here when you just type your post...

All over honey? *boggle


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## Trailblazr80 (Jun 2, 2014)

I read somewhere ( I believe it was a mantid forum based in the UK) that some mantid owners had bad experiences with giving honey to their mantids. Anyone know why? I really would like to give honey to my mantids! Is there any particular type of honey people give? I have an organic honey from India (Trader Joe's) and manuka honey. ( New Zealand)


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## Digger (Jun 2, 2014)

reptilia5 said:


> Very interesting and useful information,doctor.I will keep that in mind in case I have to face an emergency like that. that being said, how does one determine mantis age to human years? Would it be like ten human years to one month of mantis age?


7.8 years for each month.


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## furrymanmarbles (Jun 6, 2014)

I just fed my spiny flower and my giant shields a bit of honey to try it out. My shield is a large nymph at the moment but he got a taste and that was it lol he smashed his face in it and went absolutely nuts when he finished running so fast i almost squished him trying to catch him.now hes tasting everything in the tank looking for more. Its like catnip for mantises in my case


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## GhostStealth7889 (Jun 6, 2014)

Imma Try this technique


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