How much do you feed your Chinese Mantis?

[CoolMantis]

I have a Chinese Mantis currently at a big L7. I’ve been feeding her house flies, blue bottle flies and some wax worms. At this point I’ve been giving her one a day. She is getting bigger so I don’t want her to be hungry. I also don’t want to over feed her. What kind of feeding schedule do some of you use for a full grown Tenodera sinensis?

As far as larger prey goes, I’m not comfortable having roaches in the house and I’ve read that crickets can carry some nasty diseases. I am open to other ideas though. Thanks!

 

[jmantis]

I have a Chinese Mantis too! He is 7 (almost 8!!!!!) months old and is an adult. When he was subadult, I would feed him a giant grasshopper every 2-3 days. Good call on the crickets, I’ve heard nothing but bad things about crickets. I’d suggest avoiding waxworms as a regular diet, they don’t have much nutritional value and are better as an occasional treat. My guy loves blue bottle flies. The main way to tell if your mantis is “full” is by looking at their abdomen. I’ll see if I can find any posts with examples or what a “full” female Chinese mantis looks like for you. You got this!

 

[CoolMantis]

Cool thanks jmanits! Grasshoppers are a great idea! I’ll definitely order some next time I buy flies.

BTW, great mantis pic