Can a Mantid eat a Honey Bee(stinger and all) w/o being harmed?

[caliman707]

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!

 

[MrPitseleh]

I've heard of people drinking rattle snake venom and being fine cause Eating and being stug are different things I guess its somehow ok. I wouldn't feed my mantis bees cause I'd be worried they could get stung, and Rebecca says to smash the mouth first cause they also bite too. What kind of mantis have you got?

 

[LauraMG]

Yes they can eat them just fine, but many people have an issue with the declining honey bee population and using them as feeders. I don't wanna mess with them because I don't wanna get stung! :lol: I'm a baby....

 

[sporeworld]

I've also heard advice of smashing the mouth and removing the stinger. I'm too lazy and squeamish for all that, so I usually either freeze them first, or crush them. But no wasps! I hate those things...

 

[Jesskb]

your mantis will be fine.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Both honey bees and wasps are eaten in nature and there is a famous narrative by the French naturalist Farbre about a mantis eating a wasp that was preying on a bee. MrP's observation about some, but not all poisons, particularly neurotoxic venoms being innocuous when taken by mouth is quite true, Rebecca's advice is based on her experience with wasps, not bees. No mantis of mine has been harmed by a bee, and I feed them regularly.

I don't know whether you live in a CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) state or not (Google will show you a U.S. map with affected states), but when Rick says that he won't feed bees because he doesn't want to add to an already bad situation, that seems reasonable as does Christian's remark (most of Europe is affected) that he does feed bees because what he takes are statistically insignificant. Arizona is CD free, so far, so I am not involved in the debate.

 

[Rick]

Please do not use honeybees! The honey bee population is in serious decline right now. They are major pollinators and honey producers and we need every single bee. But, yes they will work though you shouldn't use em.

 

[PeterF]

Domestic honey bee hives are sometimes sprayed with pesticide to combat mites.

keep that in mind when selecting a feeder.

 

[caliman707]

Thanks for the heads up. I used a few bees in the past out of ignorance as feeders when i was new to the "hobby" of keeping Mantids. I stopped when I heard of their dwindling numbers. The only reason I fed her this honey bee was because one was unlucky enough to end up in my house. Unfortunetly, I injured it in an attempt to get it out of the house. Thanks to everyone for the info!