The two sp. you're posting about are always seen as prey items in wild footage! I strongly agree these two types of insects are good for them.
Not sure what the mantids eat in the wild in maddy, but the phasmids I'm sure eat just a few sp. of plant matter.
I get chinese ooths, very cheap on ebay, hatch them out, and feed them off to my baby panther chameleons.
Chinese oothecae hatch on average, 200 nymphs. 75% of these nymphs die after the first few days, so better use these when you have a good size clutch of babies.
Plus Chinese oothecae can be stored in the fridge which is awesome. This sp. is found in NJ, I recently found an adult male!
I've fed $40.00 mantid nymphs to some of my panthers because the expensive mantids mis molted horribly. LOL Cannot believe some of my male panthers have got the pleasure to eat a large, expensive mantis!
I trim off their claws, just because they have sharp teeth-like spikes.
Unfortunately stick bugs aren't sold openly on American forums.
For any of those who live in a warm climate, getting Chinese oothecae and releasing some is always a plus!
Next summer I am going to hang up 40 or more Chinese oothecae on my deck, hoping I will see more than 1 adult by September!