Most mantis species prefer flying prey such as green bottle and blue bottle flies, curly wing and calci worm flies and moths etc. You can also offer mealworms, locusts and cockroaches and females usually eat a lot more than males.

I would not recommend feeding crickets as they carry a lot of bacteria and viruses that can be harmful or even fatal to your mantis.

Always be careful not to leave any gnawing prey, such as locusts in with your mantis as they can bite and even devour your mantis particularly if it is moulting and vulnerable.

Most mantis need to drink so we spray a fine mist of water the walls of the enclosure where they can go and drink from the droplets. We also offer honey water (10% honey 90% boiled/cooled water) as a treat or if the mantis seems unwell as it has excellent antibacterial properties which helps maintain a healthy digestive system.

Green bottle flies are the main diet of all our mantises. Our fly pooting video shows how to culture flies and an easy way we have developed to feed them to your mantis.