Hiya Tweets,

About the mantis not showing any apparent ill effects from munching on a
poison-arrow frog: most likely, the frog was no longer poisonous. For the
most part, poison-arrow frogs available here in this country (as long as
they weren't collected directly from the rain forest, an unethical and
illegal practice) are not toxic. As I understand it, the poison is a
result of a diet of a particular ant. Commercial breeders and private
enthusiasts in North America usually don't feed their frogs this kind of
ant.

---Lisa M. Smith, Seattle WA <subplot at u.washington.edu>



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 00:40:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: James West <jdwest at u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
To: Northwest birding email <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: Mantis prey: myth or fact?


In response to Joan Bergstrom's query about the rumors of mantids eating
hummingbirds.... a couple of weeks ago a friend temporarily parked a
medium-sized mantis in her nicely set up vivarium containing poison-arrow
frogs. The mantis demolished a frog in short order, and showed no ill
effects. I was impressed, and I grew up watching tropical mantids in Sri
Lanka! I don't think what you've heard is totally out of the question, and
I'd be interested to know if there's any hard data on this.

James West