When should I feed my mantis?

[Todomantis]

As a rule of thumb, I always fed my mantis when I saw his abdomen was getting thin. However, that was before reaching adulthood. Since he's gotten wings, I can't see his abdomen and I can't tell if he needs to eat. Anyone have any tips for a novice mantis keeper? My mantis is a male Hierodula Venosa and I'm mainly feeding him whole super worms.

 

[Synapze]

My adult H. venosa eats about 3 BBFs (primary diet) 3 times per week. Some species begin to eat less after they reach adulthood. I have only fed him superworms on a few occasions and he would only eat about 2 per week... sometimes reluctantly, but he's in excellent health. I would suggest offering food every 3 days. I've never heard of a mantis dying from overeating, so that's probably not a big concern. However, over feeding can shorten the lifespan of a mantis. 

 

[hysteresis]

Hey @Synapze, hiw do you feel about feeding big mantids small meals every day. For example, a small cricket one day, and a small dubia the next. Etc.

 

[Synapze]

Hey @Synapze, hiw do you feel about feeding big mantids small meals every day. For example, a small cricket one day, and a small dubia the next. Etc.

If the mantis seems interested I don't think it would be a problem, but checking the size of the abdomen when possible is a good idea. They generally stop eating if full. That being said, overfeeding + over heating = a shorter lifespan. When males are needed to mature quickly for mating many people feed as much as possible and increase temperatures: their metabolisms go into overdrive and they can burn out pretty fast. 

I never feed my mantids crickets... I'm firmly in the "no crickets" camp. 

 

[hysteresis]

If the mantis seems interested I don't think it would be a problem, but checking the size of the abdomen when possible is a good idea.

Cool, thanks. I never overstuff the bigger nymphs. I skip a day if they start to get plump.

 

[Todomantis]

My adult H. venosa eats about 3 BBFs (primary diet) 3 times per week. Some species begin to eat less after they reach adulthood. I have only fed him superworms on a few occasions and he would only eat about 2 per week... sometimes reluctantly, but he's in excellent health. I would suggest offering food every 3 days. I've never heard of a mantis dying from overeating, so that's probably not a big concern. However, over feeding can shorten the lifespan of a mantis. 

Do you order BBF's or culture them yourself like fruit flies?

 

[Synapze]

@Todomantis I put in a regular fly order each month. 

 

[hysteresis]

My golden eats crickets and dubias. Soon I'll be adding black soldier flies.

I take super care of my crickets, if that helps. I swap them out into a clean bins every couple of days, and remove cricket molts and dead crickets daily. Dead crickets are usually mismolts. Im new at dubias so I just keep their bin clean as well. Fresh food every day. I dont buy too many at once, and flush them out for a couple of days before feeding them to the mantids. I keep two sizes: 1/4 pins for the small nymphs, and smalls for the L6 goldens.