Devil dies without flies?

[Derpderpderp]

Hi I am Derp and today I wanna ask you guys a few questions about the devil flower mantis. So yeah now I own a devil flower mantis and I have 3'of them and it's L1. I've been recently searching up info about this guys and they said that it needs a lot of flies. And I wonder does it always need an constant supply of flies? Or if I don't supply it with any flies, will it just die? And also feeding it other insects such. As roaches or mealworms will harm its health. And I don't know how it will harm it so please reply soon. Thank you

 

[Digger]

Derp,

At that beginning instar, just a few Drosophila melanogaster every two days is fine. Say, perhaps, 3-6 fruit flies. Don't overwhelm the Idolomantis diabolicae with too many flies. It will stress the little guys unnecessarily.  They need very warm conditions and above average humidity.

See:

https://www.keepinginsects.com/praying-mantis/species/devils-flower-mantis/

 

[Rick]

It has been awhile since I've kept them but I seem to recall them being able to take much larger prey at L1 than fruit flies. I seem to recall feeding mine houseflies as per the thread below. A few fruit flies every couple days isn't going to be enough. 

 

[Zeppy44]

@Derpderpderp The above forum site -Idolomantis considered- if a fantastic read. When looking to see what mantis I wanted to start with I read the whole thread. Awesome knowledge and not just on this one species. That thread showed me I did not have the experience  or equipment to try these.