Feeding centipedes?

[Chelsea]

Can Praying mantises eat centipedes? These are the tiny centipedes found along the eastern US (specifically the Carolinas and TN).

I have heard they may have poison and can sting.

 

[Ranitomeya]

Centipedes have venom and can and will easily whip around and give your mantis a potentially fatal bite.

 

[Digger]

Can Praying mantises eat centipedes? These are the tiny centipedes found along the eastern US (specifically the Carolinas and TN).

I have heard they may have poison and can sting.

Hi Chelsea,

No centipedes (just as Ranitomeya says). Or spiders. Or wasps. Or bees - if you want to be on the safe side. Just too much else available as feeders to chance anything venomous. Ask your mantid if she'd rather have a plump, pudding-filled fun-to-catch moth, or a rancid, poison-filled, fang-enraged arachnid.