# Wasp control



## padkison (Apr 18, 2007)




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## Rick (Apr 18, 2007)

Yep. I've been catching a lot of bees and wasps around here. Mantids like em.


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis (Apr 18, 2007)

That thing is beautiful!!!!    :shock:


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## Ian (Apr 19, 2007)

Ah excellent, I got so much satisfaction from seeing my specimens eat wasps!


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## OGIGA (Apr 19, 2007)

Hmm, I thought you guys don't feel too easy about feeding things like wasps to mantises.


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## Way.Of.The.Mantis (Apr 19, 2007)

I was going to ask the same thing, can a bee or wasp sting a mantis? Here comes summr, free food is flying around, can I use bees then?

Jonny.


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## OGIGA (Apr 19, 2007)

Yep. Yen has pictures of mantises eating bees somewhere.


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## ellroy (Apr 19, 2007)

I feed wasps and bees to any of my mantids which are big and bold enough to catch them. I must admit, my adult male Idolomantis wouldn't tackle a frantically buzzing wasp but others, including adult _P.paradoxa _ are always happy to tuck into honey bees. Theres no way wild mantids wouldn't exploit such an abundant resource so I see no reason why captives shouldn't be fed them.

Obviously us humans will need to be careful when handling bees and wasps!

Alan


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## wuwu (Apr 19, 2007)

honey bees are as harmless as flies to mantids. they're a great source of food if you want to spend the time catching them. wasps and hornets should be used with caution since they're more robust and also have sharp mandibles. however, the more heavily built mantids should have no catching them either.


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## captainmerkin (Apr 19, 2007)

> honey bees are as harmless as flies to mantids. they're a great source of food if you want to spend the time catching them. wasps and hornets should be used with caution since they're more robust and also have sharp mandibles. however, the more heavily built mantids should have no catching them either.


ermmmm hornets?

no way man that would be like feeding a grenade to a child.

those things are psychotic, bet the mantis would die half the time ?

honey bees fair enough and bumblebees (*don't even think about feeding these to mantis in the uk as they are on a steep species decline*) should be ok as they are not so tough!

But hornets damn man gotta be a man mantid


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## Rick (Apr 19, 2007)

I feed bees. Mantids eat them in the wild so why not?


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## randyardvark (Apr 19, 2007)

> no way man that would be like feeding a grenade to a child.


brilliant just brilliant...best metaphor ever!


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## the mantinator (Apr 23, 2007)

these bees can't sting. but make sure they have a yellow face they hover in spot and are called carpenter bees

http://bugguide.net/node/view/16660/bgpage


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## rickyc666 (Apr 24, 2007)

It is sad and true that bee's in England are on a decline. im gonna plant loads of native wild flowers in the garden (have already planted some) to help them out, also going to make a few behive's for them, then i wont feel guilty feeding the odd one to the mantids once they are established.


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## Shelbycsx (Apr 25, 2007)

> It is sad and true that bee's in England are on a decline. im gonna plant loads of native wild flowers in the garden (have already planted some) to help them out, also going to make a few behive's for them, then i wont feel guilty feeding the odd one to the mantids once they are established.


I don't think it's gonna help any... It's a shame really... Looks like our wonderfully convenient cellular phones are actually destroying the bees.

Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/...icle2449968.ece


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## OGIGA (Apr 25, 2007)

> > It is sad and true that bee's in England are on a decline. im gonna plant loads of native wild flowers in the garden (have already planted some) to help them out, also going to make a few behive's for them, then i wont feel guilty feeding the odd one to the mantids once they are established.
> 
> 
> I don't think it's gonna help any... It's a shame really... Looks like our wonderfully convenient cellular phones are actually destroying the bees.
> ...


That's interesting. First time I ever heard of that. I wonder which cell phone frequency they're referring to because there are a few that cell phones can use.


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