My Heritage rose is going into a second flush of bloom and is a Japanese beetle carnival, so my son put a praying mantis on it (he doesn't want me dunking and stomping, but a praying mantis chewing off their heads would be fine)

So we watched

and watched

and watched

and got bored

The praying mantis did not notice the beetles, nor they it.

Finally it put out a leg and felt a beetle, groped its back. The beetle did not react. Then it grabbed a mating pair. Being Japanese beetles, they kept right on with it. The mantis took a taste. Then it began trying to shake them off, like you would a piece of tape on your finger. At last the beetles parted and one flew off. The mantis kept shaking its leg (you know how the tape gets stuck on another finger) and at last dislodged the remaining beetle.

Then it hung upsidedown and was still doing that an hour later.

I've seen a mantis eat a shield bug of some sort, maybe even a stink bug, and not be bothered by the taste.

So I'm not counting on the mantises to make the least dent in the beetles.

Lisa