Sphodromantis lineola, pnigomantis medioconstricta, rhombodera basalis/valida, plistospilota guineensis are pretty awesome hunters. But even small ones like creobroter gemmatus, acromantis, popa spurca aren't lazy
Yeah acromantis japonica are pretty cool, easy to raise and live pretty long, got some that went adult in September.
Also Creobroter gemmatus or Otomantis scutigera are small but cool.
Aww so sorry for your loss :( sometimes it just happens u can't aleays be there to watcg the molt. And its better to end their suffering if u can't help them.
Before adult molt they can take a couple of days, some species even about a week (like with heterochaeta it took so long I thought they were never going to molt lol)
Also i think mantis is an ideal first pet for kids it doesnt live as long so that the parents are stuck with it when the kid stops caring about it and it doesn't get boring can be handled often!
I got my first snake a couple of days ago and it just made me realize how amazing mantids are! They are so friendly towards a human, unlike many other animals. They are so easy to just hang out with u and not easily stressed u don't have to tiptoe around them they are so chill! What other...
I just clean them with hot water or alcohol then hot water or if it'd too messed up I just get a new one. Also put like paper towel on the bottom and change it when it startes to get dirty.