Praying mantises are solitary predators in the wild and aren't ever truly communal. This doesn't mean you can't do it, though. Follow these rules to optimize a communal mantis setup:
- Don't house highly aggressive species together (Sphodromantis, Pnigomantis, etc).
- Give each mantis sufficient space and perching areas.
- Keep an abundance of food in the enclosure.
- Keep similarly sized mantises, and same sex, together.
Ultimately you only do a communal if you are willing to possibly lose some of your mantises.
