Is this true?

[Nicolas]

Read up on some info coming to a wiki article that claims Chinese Mantids can live longer if they eat pollen. Is this true, and is their only way of "eating pollen" by eating bees? 

 

[Rick]

Pollen may be beneficial but I am unaware of any evidence indicating it will increase life span. For captive mantids that eat things like crickets and roaches it may be a good supplement in the diet. You can purchase pollen and dust your feeders with it. 

 

[Predatorhousepet]

Just wanted to add that if you plan to dust feeders with pollen buy it already in powder form. If you get granules you will need to grind it to powder yourself with a coffee grinder or high powered blender. You can dust any feeder insect with the powder before feeding to your mantis or you can mix pollen into the feeder insect's food a day beforehand, "gut loading" them so the mantis benefits from the extra nutrients still inside the prey insect's digestive tract. 

 

[minomantis]

In general, honey is coined as natures natural healing remedy.  I believe that there are healing properties in honey and pollen that are beneficial to the mantis.  Like Rick said, there is no evidence that proves this, but I don't think it would hurt to introduce this to your mantis.

 

[LamboMantisMan23]

Feed bee pollen and honey to the flies you feed to the mantis, not directly to the mantis  

 

[Prayingmantisqueen]

I feed my mantids honey once a week at least as a preventitive "medicine" seeing if it helps prevent some problems I have seen in the Health Issues column. 

Does anyone have any ideas on this? We also have bee pollen.

 

[Darth Mantis]

A Female Chinese mantis lives a good long time anyway my last one lived from when they are born in the wild to deep into winter and almost made it to the next spring.