# What should a staple diet for a Chinese Mantis be?



## Pearson Realize (Aug 6, 2020)

I’m getting a chinese mantis and want to know what it’s staple should be, for both young and adult. I’ve seen a lot of conflicting information about crickets. Most sites say they’re okay but everyone on reddit advises against them. 
 

Some redditors have told me mealworms and super worms, but I’m concerned about using those as staples because they’re high in fat and the praying mantis can’t really hunt them. So, I’ve come here to ask you guys what you use as staple food for your mantises. For the younger stages, I’m under the impression flightless fruit flies are good, is that true?


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## MantisMart (Aug 6, 2020)

Fruit flies are great for them as they're small. But they will grow out of them soon. Definitely start with fruit flies and not crickets. The crickets might be too big for them and the crickets could actually harm the mantis. Once too big for fruit flies, try house flies or if they're big enough, blue bottled flies. I feed mine Blue bottled flies and I was able to feed them these once they are about 1 month old. This all depends on size though, make sure the fly is not more than half the mantids size. I like mealworms, but you have to hand feed them because if you just drop the worm in the terrarium, most likely it will never be eaten because they don't move around much. If you're up for it, you could also cut the worm in half to make it smaller for the mantis, and it will still move. Both meal worms and blue bottled flies are great. You can try buying flies at  https://mantidkingdom.com/


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## MantisGirl13 (Aug 6, 2020)

Basically anything they would eat in the wild. Pet store crickets can carry harmful bacteria, so I don't suggest using them, and if you do, house them for at least a week and feed them fresh foods before feeding them to the mantis.

I feed my Chinese wild caught moths and skippers, since we don't use any pesticides. Flies are another great choice, as are mealworms.

- MantisGirl13


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## Mantid-Tim (Aug 6, 2020)

Getting blue bottle fly larvae is the best way to go. They love flies and can even eat the larvae by hand feeding. If the worm gets away or falls in the terrarium, it will just hatch into an adult fly in a few days! My sub-adult chinese mantis eats blue bottles exclusively.

I used to feed crickets but I noticed they started squirting water (clear; odorless) after eating them. I think this can be from too much moisture but I'm far from 100% sure on that one. Three of my mantids did this after eating crickets and never on flies and worms....


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