Praying Mantis

Praying mantis is an umbrella term for dozens of mantid species commonly sold in the US pet trade — Chinese mantis, ghost mantis, and orchid mantis are among the most widely kept, and adult size (and appropriate feeder size) varies considerably between species. Mantises only strike at live, moving prey sized to match their own body, so diet scales with each nymphal instar rather than following one fixed feeder.

Note: the core mantis diet for early-stage nymphs — flightless fruit flies and other tiny live prey — isn't in this store's catalog at all. Dubia roach nymphs are the one clean crossover product, and only once a mantis reaches mid-instar or later. Mealworms/superworms are a genuinely poor fit, not staple-appropriate.

What to Feed

Newly hatched nymphs start on flightless fruit flies — the only prey small/slow enough for a freshly hatched mantis to safely catch. As nymphs grow they progress to small houseflies, blue bottle flies, and small dubia roach nymphs; adults of larger species take medium dubia nymphs and larger flies. Dubia nymphs, sized to the mantis, are legitimate once mid-instar or later — but size carefully, and their burrowing means an uneaten roach can go unnoticed. Mealworms/superworms are a poor staple fit: tougher exoskeleton and hooked mandibles risk injuring a mantis trying to subdue one, and their low, crawling movement often fails to trigger a strike response at all — used at all, it's occasional only.

Feeding Schedule

• Early-instar nymphs: daily to every other day, 1–3 flightless fruit flies at a time (not sold by this store)
• Mid-to-late nymphs: every 1–3 days, stepping up to small houseflies and X-Small dubia roach nymphs (about 25/week is plenty)
• Subadults/adults: every 2–5 days with Small dubia roach nymphs (about 25/week), roughly what's finished in one sitting; gravid females fed more often, daily if taken
• Prey no more than ~1/3 to 1/2 the mantis's own body length, at every stage

Gut-Loading

Like tarantulas, mantises have a chitin exoskeleton and no bone skeleton — they grow through periodic molting, not skeletal growth, so no calcium or D3 dusting is used. No established mantis care sheet reviewed includes a dusting step; one breeder's guide states directly that calcium dusting is "borrowed from reptile keeping" and mantises don't need it. Gut-load feeders with a nutrient-dense gut-load for at least 24 hours before offering.

Common Mistakes

• Leaving live roaches unsupervised, especially overnight — can bite and kill a mid-molt mantis, one of the more commonly cited preventable mantis deaths
• Feeding mealworms/superworms as a staple — bite/injury risk, and low mobility often means the mantis ignores them
• Oversized prey — can fight back hard enough to injure the mantis
• Using one prey-size rule across species — appropriate prey for a Chinese mantis is oversized for a ghost or orchid mantis nymph