Royal Jelly

[guapoalto049]

Has anyone tried feeding mantids royal jelly? Or giving flies royal jelly to jack up the nutritional content? I might give it a try!

 

[Rick]

No, I feed them what they are supposed to eat which is insects. Feeding it to flies makes sense though. My flies eat honey.

 

[warpdrive]

No, I feed them what they are supposed to eat which is insects. Feeding it to flies makes sense though. My flies eat honey.

I fully agree. I'm big on gutloading my feeders for my reptiles. I'm doing the same until I see proof that it is not worth it. yet my feeders are beyond healthy as a result so it can't be bad for my pet mantids.

Harry

 

[guapoalto049]

Yeah I feed my blues a honey/pollen mix. Just figured if it did wonders for a queen bee it might be neat to try it with flies.

 

[PhilinYuma]

I fully agree. I'm big on gutloading my feeders for my reptiles. I'm doing the same until I see proof that it is not worth it. yet my feeders are beyond healthy as a result so it can't be bad for my pet mantids.

Harry

You speak, quite correctly, Harry, of the need for proof to confirm or falsify a hypothesis; do you have any proof that gutloading your feeder insects contributes, beyond your clearly excellent husbandry, to their "beyond' healthiness? Like all herp and amphibian raisers (though i have not raised any in a few years), I am a great advocate of gut loading their prey, but I have never heard anyone suggest that it was designed for the health of the feeder. Now that I am back from my tour, I have sent you an example of a scholarly paper that states definitively that there is no benefit from gutloading the prey of spiderlings, and there is no evidence, indeed, I have never heard of any professional who has suggested, that gut loading prey benefits the prey themselves.

The question has been asked -- was it by you? -- about why pollen is reputed to have such a beneficial effect on mantids when they eat pollen-dusted bees and flies but not when it is used as a gutload. One might add to that the fact that bees eat pollen and regurgitate it for their larvae. The answer is easily demonstrated. Take some sterile water and put 5ccs in an accurate measuring container (a 10cc syringe is good, if you can find one). Next, add 2ccs of pulverizefd (for accuracy of measurement) pollen grains to make 7ccs. If the pollen dissolves, the level will decline to somewhere between 5-7ccs. It doesn't. This means that FFs and HFs who feed by the spit and swallow method are unable to dissolve the pollen and therefor cannot feed on it.

I shall be interested to hear your response to the article, Harry, but even if you are unconvinced, gut loading your mantis feeders cannot do any harm, even if it is a waste of time and effort.