Just ordered my first Mantis and have some questions about handling and feeding.

[★ Ｔｒａｃｙ Ｇｒｅｙ ☆]

Hi and welcome!  

The people in the videos are usually trying to get their mantis to do a threat pose (it's pretty). 

Put your hand out flat in front, usually they will just walk on.  You can gently push from behind too.  

As for the flightless fruitflies...they are tiny, but man can they jump and climb!  From what I saw and how I do it is tap the bottom of the ff enclosure on the table to knock them off the top so you can open the enclosure.  I have another cup ready (like a solo cup) to put them in (it is also recommended to put a thin film of vaseline or olive oil around the top of the inside so they cant climb up and out).  Then tap a few of the ff into your mantis enclosure and put back the unused ones.  

Depending on your chosen enclosure, you may want a dedicated feeding cup so that you know your mantis ate and can keep your enclosure cleaner longer.

~I've personally tried olive oil and it doesn't work, idk if it was the brand or what but the flies can climb up it

 

[Predatorhousepet]

There's a product called Slippery Feet that is supposed to work for fruit flies but it's a bit expensive. 

I have found that if you coat fruit flies in a fine powder such as powdered honey or bee pollen they can't climb the sides of a deli cup, they just stay at the bottom. (You might have to run the powder through a coffee grinder or high powered blender a few times to get it fine enough.)