# Poison Resistance



## asdsdf (Aug 17, 2007)

Are mantids usually poison resistant? Because my mantids have been eating bees, wasps, and poisonouse spiders lately, and would it affect the hatchlings that they would create? They haven't shown any side affects, but could it maybe be transfered from the mother to the eggs? Kind oflike pregnant woman and what they need to eat? Or are mantids immune...If not, my babies!!!! :shock:


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## buddhistsoldier88 (Aug 17, 2007)

Ok hers the thing about mantids: They are perfect killing machines when it comes to insects. Eating poison should not have any effect on them. HOWEVER being bitten/ stung would and could kill them


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## asdsdf (Aug 17, 2007)

But there isn't much diff, since the stomach leads to their "blood stream" and it would be like getting stung, so....????


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## buddhistsoldier88 (Aug 17, 2007)

> But there isn't much diff, since the stomach leads to their "blood stream" and it would be like getting stung, so....????


Right but even in the wild they catch and eat them. Its not big deal honestly! Just try to let them not get stung


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## asdsdf (Aug 17, 2007)

Ok thanks!


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## pizzuti (Aug 17, 2007)

The "poison" is an enzyme and is broken down in the stomach of the mantid. The ability to eat bee venom is not unique to mantids. You could eat bees and not be affected, assuming you are not allergic to bees, because your stomach acids would break the enzymes down.

Think about this; spiders inject digestive juices into their food to dissolve it before they eat it. The juices are "poisonous" but the spider drinks them along with the rest of the meal and it doesn't kill the spider. But a spider can kill another spider by biting it, and many spiders will kill and eat members of their own species (think of the black widow; actually there are dozens of kinds of spiders that will do this, though). The difference is between having it in the stomach and having in the blood stream.

Same with the HCL in your own stomach; in your stomach, hydrochloric acid is harmless. But it would sting pretty bad if you injected it into your skin like a bee sting does.


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## asdsdf (Aug 17, 2007)

OOOOOOOOOOkay.  Thanks a lot.


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## Ben.M (Aug 17, 2007)

Very interesting  , thanx for that explanation


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## OGIGA (Aug 17, 2007)

> Same with the HCL in your own stomach; in your stomach, hydrochloric acid is harmless.


Interesting. I don't think I'll try this though.


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## buddhistsoldier88 (Aug 17, 2007)

> > Same with the HCL in your own stomach; in your stomach, hydrochloric acid is harmless.
> 
> 
> Interesting. I don't think I'll try this though.


Haha! Why not!?


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## robo mantis (Aug 17, 2007)

They live because in their digestive track they can combate poison. BUT if it gets through the skin into the body it will poison then by not being able to fight it.


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## OGIGA (Aug 18, 2007)

> > > Same with the HCL in your own stomach; in your stomach, hydrochloric acid is harmless.
> >
> >
> > Interesting. I don't think I'll try this though.
> ...


Umm, I don't know what'll happen. If I drink it, it'll burn my mouth, throat, and esophagus for sure. And then, if my stomach doesn't break it down or neutralize it, it'll burn my intestines and it'll hurt coming out. And if my stomach somehow does have all that base to neutralize it, I'll be exploding with gas.

I heard that stomach acid has a pH of 2 and I don't know what it's made out of or anything.


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## asdsdf (Aug 18, 2007)

Lol, our stomaches don't digest enzymes too well, although supposedly, the acid is very strong. The only thing that stops it from burining through is the mucous lining on a stomachs. You know all those poisons that kill people? Why doesn't our stomach take care of that?


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## pizzuti (Aug 18, 2007)

> You know all those poisons that kill people? Why doesn't our stomach take care of that?


"Poison" is an extremely broad category. It includes lead, mercury, arsenic, and countless other things. If you put weed killer or insecticide on your mantid's food and it got into the mantid's stomach, the mantid would die, and if you drank weed killer or insecticide it would probably kill you too.

But "venom" is a more specific; it is a chemical that can be a poison, but it is manufactured by a living thing. It is made of protein or some other organic compound and works because it breaks down tissue, or in some cases, interacts with nerve communication. Since venom doesn't kill its host, it must be something that can be easily contained or broken down by whatever tissue holds it.

Venom can be broken down by antibodies, but that is more common in animals that are regularly exposed to it. It can also be broken down (or not absorbed) by a digestive system. Venom is by nature highly toxic in the blood stream and less likely to be toxic in the digestive system.



> The only thing that stops it from burining through is the mucous lining on a stomachs.


There is mucous lining in the stomach to prevent the hydrochloric acid from dissolving the tissue, and then a lot of very aggressive digestive enzymes are released in the small intestine to break down the proteins in food. But your body also produces secretions that neutralize those enzymes; bile neutralizes hydrochloric acid, otherwise the acid would rip through the thin intestinal lining.


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## asdsdf (Aug 18, 2007)

fine! :roll: :lol: jk


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## OGIGA (Aug 19, 2007)

Oh, then bile is a base? What kind of acid does your stomach use to digest things?


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## Ben.M (Aug 19, 2007)

HLC, Hydrochloric acid :roll:


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## OGIGA (Aug 19, 2007)

I see... I had no idea that my body makes hydrochloric acid. That's HCl, by the way.


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## Ben.M (Aug 20, 2007)

> *HLC*, Hydrochloric acid :roll:


I know :lol:


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