lol. The chirping gets annoying after years of it. We use crickets to feed my brothers crested gecko.
I like keeping wild mantids in-season, as this allows me to feed them their regular diet of flies (which love to come in abundance to sun themselves in the mornings on our deck, and to eat dog poop in our Havaton's outdoor kennel) and other insects. Fruit flies, regular flies, little orange butterflies, etc. come en mass to my backyard. The feeders are naturally avaliable, free, and relate to the mantids normal diet. I also don't have to worry about creating a diapause - the oothecas can sit outside in their natural humidity and temperature. The mantids can also enjoy beneficial wind, sunshine, and shade in spacious outdoor enclosures.
