when i had praying mantises i bred the fruit flie i bought flies through a website they came in tubes then u can buy the blue media (blue food). when the batch u order turns bad (blue media rotten and green or brown) you clean the tubes out and mix blue media right and make it look like when u order put the red mesh ladder thing in the goo and add 20- 30 flies (make sure you save some from last batch). then wait til u can see alot of white larvae and then use those flies then keep process going. when u feel confident u can use ur own cylinders probably 2-3" across and 6-10" tall and find something for flies to climb keep cool not to cold not to hot if this helps anyone i hope u have fun.