I've only recently gotten into mantids, but if I'm lucky I'd love to breed my Idolomantis diabolicas! They just had their penultimate molts.
You're most welcome!
Ghost mantids are a good first choice, they're cool-looking and hardy. Be sure to have some wingless fruit flies to feed the nymphs, which are best to start with as mantids only live for about a year. This species is not expensive so maybe get three in case you lose any. And keep them separate, they can be cannibalistic. For the flies I'd recommend a producing Melonogaster culture from http://www.joshsfrogs.com/producing-wingless-drosophila-melanogastor-fruit-fly-culture.html and read up on how to start new cultures from the first. They grow quickly, so two cultures should last long enough ... after that you can start feeding them small crickets.
I did manage to find what mantises she had for sale, but I don't know what species are good for beginners. Am I better off with a nymph or an adult to start off with? And where the F#$% can I get those Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii?!??!?!?!?!? I'm sorry to swear, but I felt like the swear word would emphasis how amazing they are!!!
Yeah, those have got to be the two coolest mantids there are! Can't decide which is my favorite lol. The wahlbergiis only get about an inch max, but my Idolos are already 4 inches!
They are pretty amazing ... not a lot to see with the naked eye yet at their size, but under a macro they really explode with color and structure. And yeah, you're totally right about the mantis shrimp!