caliman707
Active member
I used to mainly feed my Mantids crickets & the occasional spider or moth. I haven't kept Mantids for a couple years now, but when I had them before I had only fed them 1 or 2 bees. From what I remember, the Mantis would usually start with the head and when it got to the tip of the abdomen & stinger it would flick it away. The Mantis I have now is an adult female about 3.5" in length. I gave her a honey bee and she started with the head and when she got to the end of the abdomen I could see that the stinger was still their and pushing in and out. I was waiting for her to flick it away but she kept eating until she finished stinger, legs, wings, and all! It's obvious she was really hungry considering that legs and wings are usually quickly discarded. But by eating the venom and the stinger of the bee wouldn't that be the same as being stung? She seems to be fine now, but I don't want to feed any more stinging insects if she got "lucky" on this one. So is it safe to eat stingers, or did she get lucky? Thanks, sorry for the long post!