It really doesn't matter as long as it's between 5000-7000 or something like that. I used 5000k by suggestion of someone who knows a lot more than me about large cages, but anywhere in sunlight temp should work.
Kinda hard to get a good picture of lights but I have 1 4ft 4 bulb T8 fixture w/ 5000 kelvin led bulbs, 2 22" desert UVB T5HO bulbs by lightyourreptiles, and a 100w Megaray Uvb/Heat flood light.
Thanks, for the back I just used polywall because it is pretty rigid but plywood couldn't hurt. For the bottom I used pond liner and used the plywood for support.
The only mantis I've ever fed to my cham is a baby Chinese mantis that I caught in my backyard and kept for a few days before feeding, but those get huuuge.
Just do Calcium -D3 every day and then dust with multivitamin every two weeks and Calcium +D3 every two weeks. Size of casque (spike on head) and pattern indicates male but without a pic of the back feet we can't say for sure.
I've never had any mites in any of my insect colonies except springtails. Those mites are super annoying, they eat all the yeast before it can mold over!
You described him as getting dark and vivid patterns when you showed him a cricket. To me that seems like more than just not hungry. Maybe he is scared of you, or the cricket, or anything else you changed.
Maybe a loose cricket could have bitten him and now he is scared of them. That sounds like more than just an I'm bored response, which is usually just ignoring the food item. I would also steer away from mealworms as treats. They're hard to digest. Some hard to digest things like isopods can be...
Yeah, last time I ordered it took a while but he still came through. Is he really more expensive? From what I've seen his prices are the best for what I can find. Of course, it sometimes only includes nymphs for the more obscure species but still.