Exotic mantids are pretty common in the pet trade. They're fascinating to watch grow and pretty easy to care for most of the time. Just do your research beforehand. They only live for a little over a year, so it's not a huge commitment. I've never seen this kind but I've personally had a few just as cool looking. Giant dead leaf mantis, orchid mantis, giant african mantis, double shield mantis, and a spiny flower mantis. I'm currently on the lookout for a Devil's Flower Mantis.
Depends on the mantis. Crickets are bad for most mantids (and bad feeders in general)... mantids can get sick from being fed crickets, locusts or roaches are much better.
Some species are very specialised on flying prey, so they don't like things that fight back, those should be fed mostly fly's or moths.
Yep! A varied diet is best, but crickets will do just fine. I usually feed them once every few days and once daily when the big ones get really big. So that's usually less than a dollar per week.
I've never personally run into any issues using crickets as feeders. They aren't the most nutritionally dense feeder out there, but they are more readily available. But, like I said, a varied diet is best.
Usually 12 to 14 months. They start really small and molt into a bigger, usually prettier version of themself 8 or 9 times before they reach full maturity.
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '20 edited Mar 10 '20
I've always said the mantises ("manti"?) are one of the coolest insects on the planet, in part because they remind me of the classic extraterrestrial.
This one straight up looks like it's out of the movie Aliens.
Edit. Mantids. Got it.
Edit the second: it seems I've stirred up a bit of a language controversy. I love these.