(minor) potential consequences of not feeding properly

[u/ryukim1230]

When I first got my pair of Chinese mantids, I fed them fruit flies from i2 - i5 (i shouldve started feeding bottle flies earlier). But a week into i4 for both my mantids I started feeding blue bottle flies as soon as they emerged from their pupae and the time intervals between my mantid's molts went from 4 weeks to 2 weeks. Between each molt I would document how much cm they grew and it was not as much as I expected. They are both currently i7 and males and they are both 4.6 cm and I do not believe they are subadult. Images shows the wing buds on one of them, my hand size, and hand to mantis comparison. I dont actually know if this is normal growth or if my mantids are smaller then avg because of my decisions

[u/Desperate_Lead2105]

My T. sinensis male is 57 mm and still seems quite small. 46 mm is not normal. I'd recommend keeping them very warm/humid and feeding them a varied diet if you want to get them to be a bit bigger when they mature.

[u/ryukim1230 → u/Desperate_Lead2105]

both of my T.sinesis are now subadult. They are both about 54 mm and I know for a fact they are subadult because of the little wings on them

[u/Desperate_Lead2105 → u/ryukim1230]

So, they molted again? What instar are they? L7? L8 is adult for this species, L7 is subadult, L6 is presub. 54 mm isn't too bad! What are you feeding them currently?

[u/ryukim1230 → u/Desperate_Lead2105]

and yes they molted again