Can mantids be vegetarians?

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CouId I be a vegetarian? Not if given a choice. I'm strictly meat and potatoes. I might eat a salad if I was starving, but it is not what I want. Praying mantis eat live insects. Someone needs to get over it if they want to have a chance at successfully rearing and breeding mantids. It just isn't feasible. Try as they might.......it's not plausible.

 
good luck getting phasmids...
This does not mean they have to be exotic phasmids. There are plenty of native US species that can be found. I figured phasmids would be the closest looking to a praying mantis if he likes the way they look? Mantis raptorial claws are not ment to hold celery sticks. Even though i'm sure they could. :lol:

 
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This does not mean they have to be exotic phasmids. There are plenty of native US species that can be found. I figured phasmids would be the closest looking to a praying mantis if he likes the way they look? Mantis raptorial claws are not ment to hold celery sticks. Even thoght i'm sure they could. :lol:
oh understood.
 
What does that mean? Does that mean the mantis would not eat?
No. You're confused. He doesn't have a mantis yet. I have an extra blue flash. I'm keeping it for him. The mantis is eating fine with my live food. My friend, who wants to keep the mantis doesn't like feeding live.

 
CouId I be a vegetarian? Not if given a choice. I'm strictly meat and potatoes. I might eat a salad if I was starving, but it is not what I want. Praying mantis eat live insects. Someone needs to get over it if they want to have a chance at successfully rearing and breeding mantids. It just isn't feasible. Try as they might.......it's not plausible.
OK he doesn't rear mantids. I have mantids and he thinks they're cool. I rear all sorts of species cuz I'm comfortable feeding live. He isn't. So last night I emailed him a list of possible pets.

 
They need LIVE prey.
I beg to differ, actually. I have a couple of physically disabled Idolos, and I squish/kill flies in some plastic wrap first and hand feed it to them with small tweezers. And when I am feeding mantids that are hanging out on a plant, I kill the fly first, too, so it doesn't fly away. Never had a problem with this method.

That said, it's a moot point. Dude's not getting a mantis. Thankfully.

 
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They do eat plant material technically

Not really in nature but they will eat banana in culture and also honey, derived from flowers ;)

Though they can't survive on it at all, they don't object to it as a treat B)

 
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I beg to differ, actually. I have a couple of physically disabled Idolos, and I squish/kill flies in some plastic wrap first and hand feed it to them with small tweezers. And when I am feeding mantids that are hanging out on a plant, I kill the fly first, too, so it doesn't fly away. Never had a problem with this method.

That said, it's a moot point. Dude's not getting a mantis. Thankfully.
Yes I do believe that but his friend doesnt want to squish/kill bugs. So he would not go for that. But on a nutrion/full diet up to adult. It would be hard to do that. Not impossible but hard, esspecially because the mantis will usually fight it. Or refuse to eat it. ;)

 
They do eat plant material technically

Not really in nature but they will eat banana in culture and also honey, derived from flowers ;)

Though they can't survive on it at all, they don't object to it as a treat B)
Some mantids eat bee pollen in nature.
 
What is "animal derivative"? It comes from a plant. Do bees change the pollen?

 
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I beg to differ, actually. I have a couple of physically disabled Idolos, and I squish/kill flies in some plastic wrap first and hand feed it to them with small tweezers. And when I am feeding mantids that are hanging out on a plant, I kill the fly first, too, so it doesn't fly away. Never had a problem with this method.

That said, it's a moot point. Dude's not getting a mantis. Thankfully.
You don't need to do all the fly smashing :hammer: just toss a few in the fridge and tweezer out the cold non moving fly by the wings or legs, they stay stunned for several minutes, way long enough to have there head eaten off, and then hand feed to Roy and company(no fly squishy mess), it should save some time?

 
OK he doesn't rear mantids. I have mantids and he thinks they're cool. I rear all sorts of species cuz I'm comfortable feeding live. He isn't. So last night I emailed him a list of possible pets.
Yeah, if he can't watch a fly go down for the cause, he can't have mantis.

Maybe some "SHOCK THERAPY" is in order to snap him out of it? Try getting a piranha and feed it a gold fish while he's tied to a chair watching, that should do the trick! :eek: :pinch: :lol: (just a joke, well kind of) :devil2:

 
Bee pollen is an "animal derivative", making it "non" vegetarian.
To be technical, bee pollen is not a vegan option, but is a vegetarian option. Vegetarians (myself included) tend to eat animal products if it is honey, eggs, milk, etc. I personally only get butter, milk, cheese, eggs, etc, from farms that pasture raise their animals and don't use the growth hormones and chemical additives. Vegetarians don't eat the flesh of animals. Vegans won't eat or use any product that has anything to do with harvesting any animal products.

On that note, I feed my dogs and cats and fish animal meat. Though it's generally fish based instead of chicken [mass produced, lower quality meat] or pork/beef [red meat just isn't a healthy daily option], they are still either obligate carnivores or omnivores with a need for meat based protein, and I will provide that for them.

And not to disrespect any life form, but, it's flies and crickets we're talking about. Raised and harvested for this specific purpose. Generally fed live, or pre-killed in a relatively quick and painless way. Live a little c;

I know my reply is late but it's the principle. Working at a pet store this was a constant battle with many customers. "Can't I just feed my cat lots of vegetables? Or like, tofu?" No, you may not, and if that is not okay with you, get a hamster. :p

 
Rick! That is the perfect answer!

To be technical, bee pollen is not a vegan option, but is a vegetarian option. Vegetarians (myself included) tend to eat animal products if it is honey, eggs, milk, etc. I personally only get butter, milk, cheese, eggs, etc, from farms that pasture raise their animals and don't use the growth hormones and chemical additives. Vegetarians don't eat the flesh of animals. Vegans won't eat or use any product that has anything to do with harvesting any animal products.

On that note, I feed my dogs and cats and fish animal meat. Though it's generally fish based instead of chicken [mass produced, lower quality meat] or pork/beef [red meat just isn't a healthy daily option], they are still either obligate carnivores or omnivores with a need for meat based protein, and I will provide that for them.

And not to disrespect any life form, but, it's flies and crickets we're talking about. Raised and harvested for this specific purpose. Generally fed live, or pre-killed in a relatively quick and painless way. Live a little c;

I know my reply is late but it's the principle. Working at a pet store this was a constant battle with many customers. "Can't I just feed my cat lots of vegetables? Or like, tofu?" No, you may not, and if that is not okay with you, get a hamster. :p
"Vegans won't eat or use any product that has anything to do with harvesting any animal products." you just said they did LOL! "And not to disrespect any life form, but, it's flies and crickets we're talking about. Raised and harvested for this specific purpose. Generally fed live, or pre-killed in a relatively quick and painless way. Live a little c;" lots of mantids do not often bite the head off of the animal after grabbing it. I guess that Flies, Mantids, Roaches and certainly other insects do not feel pain but they know when they are getting damaged (pinched hard). People have fead mice to large mantids and mice do feel pain. I do not care about things like this. I do not seem to get sad when my friends die, strange? I get sad because of little things a lot. I hope you know this. Eggs and milk are good!

http://www.nytimes.c...n/21planck.html

I used to think that vegetarians were not supposed to eat anything from an animal. Vegans do not eat anything from an animal!

Why are you a vegetarian?

 
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