What should I feed my mantids?

[Owldoggo]

Good news! Both my mantids Sherlock and Moriarty have successfully shed twice and are holding up wonderfully. Bad news is that the fruit fly culture I’ve got is now DEFINITELY too small for their needs because of how big their raptorial legs have gotten— it seems that they don’t even pay much attention to the fruit flies anymore. 

I thought they’d take more time with the fruit flies as I’ve seen with other species, but I underestimated H. Majuscula’s ability to grow so fast! I just don’t know what to feed them. My mother suggested I should get some pinhead crickets from the pet store but I’m scared of the chance of giving them a disease and the fact that crickets will hurt mantids if you just leave them in there. 
 

I was thinking about going for flies but it seems the rest of the family isn’t too... keen on having housefly pupae sitting in the fridge. I also don’t know if the pet place sells them, or if I can rely on getting an order online during these times. Do y’all have any input or suggestions to bring up? 

 

[MantisGirl13]

Mealworms. They are super easy, the mantids love them, and you can keep them in the fridge for months.

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Owldoggo]

:0! @MantisGirl13 I never thought about feeding my babs mealworms, I’ll look into it! Do you think they can handle it, though? I’m pretty sure both are L4 and they sit comfortably on my thumb, but as I’ve stated before they’ve got huge raptorial legs. I just caught a housefly and fed it to one of my mantises! 

 

[MantisGirl13]

If you behead the mealworm and hand feed it to them, or use smaller mealworms, they will be fine!

- MantisGirl13 

 

[minomantis]

I remember when I raised majusculas! Such a great mantis.

They have larger raptorial legs compared to some mantids and are quite voracious with their appetite!

i would try again with your family with the flies. Once they pupate and you put them in the fridge, you won’t even notice them and you could put them in a bag. Mealworms are a great choice, but not all mantids take to meal worms in my experience.

honestly, during spring and summer I just go outside trying to catch any big I can find. Moths, flies, leaf hoppers, spiders, butterflies. It’s a great time! Good luck and have fun with it!