praying mantis

[nathanuk]

could you feed a prayin mantis to a yemen cham as a treat?

 

[tryme]

Yeah they have to be small thought I think. I'm sure someone else will help you.

 

[nathanuk]

if so is there any i should avoid or specifically find, ive been told that some only eat toxic plants?

 

[ciafardo 4]

yes you can alot of people do i would recomend removing the front claws bfore i feed them

 

[ciafardo 4]

mantis are carnivorous they arent plant eaters but they could eat insects that eat toxic plants

 

[macro junkie]

i breed prayingmantids at www.prayingmantid.co.uk so i disagree with it.stick with locust

 

[dodolah]

yes you certainly can feed your veiled or panther chameleon praying mantis.
But, it's a bit of PITA.
Since, to ensure the nutrition, this is basically the process:

gutload -> crickets ->Praying mantis -> Chameleon

due to that, I wouldn't make it a staple feeder since it can get quite expensive as well.
I do not clip the front claw since I only feed the baby/ juvie mantises to my adult chameleon.
So, the mantises won't pose too much of a threat.

As far as species, I would stick with the common one such as chinese mantis and european religiosa.
You don't have to catch them in the wild, many nurseries should sell the oothecas.
That way, you can be sure that they do not have pesticides trace in them.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Im with Macro Junkie. I love my mantids too much to make them feeders!

 

[nathanuk]

dont get me wrong ive always liked mantids and ive thought of gettin one as a pet, but are abit more pricey over here and cant be found in the wild(i dont think)
its a waste of time to feed it up for ages just to feed to my chams, but at least now i no that i can captively feed them as a treat (xmas!!!)

 

[Todnedo]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Mantis yummmy

 

[macro junkie]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Mantis yummmy

hahaha great pic..shame u didnt get it where the mantis was on the end of the tounge..i know its hard tho..i have managed to get a shot like it yet..

 

[Jbot]

i found a wild mantis last week and he didn't last 10 seconds inside my cham's cage. i felt a bit bad because they're my favorite local bug. oh well.