Better not giving crickets to your mantids. They can carry parasites or disaeses. Better use flies, grasshoppers or roaches.
New hatched mantids you can give Drosophila melanogaster fruitflies
I got in love with mantids with watching vids from other mantis lovers. then I bought 1, then 2...I think i am going buy me a mantis soon, I miss having them
Mantids have personalities. I have seen it in my mantids.
When Anainah died I cried. Fought for her life because somehow she didn't eat. I had to force fed her. I got her to sub adult stage. Even she was just an insect, I cared for her. Happy that she had eaten a few bites..
My hubby knows I have 5 adult hissing roaches:ROFLMAO:
Those I won't feed to my mantids. But their young I will. Last year we had a heatwave to they mated and got young, my mantis of last year lived on them.
We have had a heatwave again, so free feeders in the winter because I don't know what...
She molted yesterday en she had a good molt and she has grown a new small leg. I think she has one more molt to go, so the leg will grow bigger. It is nice to see how nature fixes a lost leg with next molt to replace the lost one:cool: