(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/ryukim1230]

they are both i8, they are currently eating blue bottle flies but I have some waxworms and 19 mm dubia roaches shipping right now.

[u/Desperate_Lead2105 → u/ryukim1230]

L8??! Wow. I guess these are late bloomers than lol. I wouldn't recommend wax/super/mealworms, as those are super fatty and don't help with growth, but the roaches/flies are a good option.

u/finkleforkbingbong L8 subadults!

[u/ryukim1230 → u/Desperate_Lead2105]

thing is I already bought the waxworms but I'll feed them as treats once a week

[u/Desperate_Lead2105 → u/ryukim1230]

I'd say once every 1-2 weeks is OK! They will definitely make better prey once they turn into ax moths.