They Hatched!!!

This morning I did my usual routine and did my obligatory check on the praying mantids I ordered from eBay. If you don't catch them as soon as they hatch, they start getting hungry and might eat each other! They are meat eaters so you have to get in there fast and let them free to eat OTHER bugs!

I kept asking myself, are they REALLY going to hatch? They arrived the day before we left for Canada and I dragged these egg cases all over babysitting them just in case! Each in their own little container with holes and a moist cotton swab.

WELL, this morning, rubbing my eyes, I visit them and one of the egg cases looked like it spilled out with about 100 of these things! I had to work fast before they ate each other!!! I took them outside immediately and opened them up.

As I was setting them free around the yard, they would start crawling up my arm ~ a little creepy, but not bad. I would redirect them onto a tree, leaf, brug, anywhere where they could start finding their own food.

It was just really, really cool! Here are a few pictures of them ☺

And another...

Morph - that's great. Soon, those eating machines will be helping to get rid of the bad bugs.

I have only seen a nest hatch one time - - and was amazed at how many there were and how small. Mine hatched out brown, but within a few minutes, they all turned bright green.

I love mantis (plural mantisi??)and have always found them to be interesting.

how very very cool.
I wonder if I can get them here in South Louisiana? I've never seen 'em around (tho we get some HUGE bugs)
I'll have to look into it. Seems like a great project.

Cheri'

Thanks, Nate. I think I had a mixture of both so they must have been turning green as they grew older each minute... I'm just so excited!!!!

Sundry, I'm sure you would have success. They like heat (70-90 degrees for hatching) and humidity! Just visit eBay and type in "praying mantis" in the search. The place I ordered from is from a man whose eBay name is prayingmantisman. Actually, I just did a search and he doesn't have any listed at the moment. But, this one is still availabe at this link which I also used to get just one egg case:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2335775681&category=519

The prayingmantisman was very generous and I rec'd 12 egg cases from him (rather than the stated 10). Looks like he doesn't have any listed at the moment, though. If you do get any, I'll tell you exactly what I did ~ it's very easy. The patience part is the hardest!!!!

In all my excitement, I've misplaced the top of the container that has the egg case attached! I started with top and then moved onto to bottom. But, I can't find where I left the top!!! I want to be sure all of them get out of the egg case alright and aren't lurking inside the house!

LOL Morph......I just have this image in my mind of you getting up in the morning and there are mantis hanging from the ceiling. Nat :)

ROTFLOL! Now that you've put the image there, I'm sure I'll have dreams of some sort about these ~ lol...

Hey, I just put two and two together! In all likelihood, I'm driving down to Mooresburg next Tuesday. I'll have to bring along my egg cases that are still not hatched. If you are interested, maybe we could meet somewhere & I'd gladly share :) If you have any kids, they would really be impressed I would imagine.

Just a thought... Wish I was driving to where Sundry was, but that's a little far :(

Morph,drive out here!!!

That is soooo cool!

Hey Morph,
Check out this thread
http://davesgarden.com/t/389889/
Bet your pics would be needed there! I posted mine there as well, but it is of an adult mantis

Oh, good idea Mollybee! I hadn't seen that thread or thought of it. Will do :)

I was doing some reading about these critters, interesting beasts!

It seems they die out in September (prolly a little later than that, here) so I don't know that they would have enough time to hatch, become adult, mate and lay eggs if I got some now. seems like an awful lot to get done in two months! But I will definitely try a case next spring. If 70 degree temps is what they want, I should get 'em in March.

You got twelve cases? That's a lot of bugs! Did they all hatch?

Cheri'

Morph, Nice shot of the hatching baby mantisis. I've always just let them hatch from wherever the mother put the egg case. I think they change color for whatever is nearest to the plant they are on. Good luck with all your babies. Donna

Crestedchik, I wish I were driving to New York & I'd bring you one :)

Sundry, yes, I rec'd 12 egg cases from the seller. I placed a bid for 10, but he added two extra. I don't expect that they will all hatch, but I've been sharing them and we've plenty of space to spread them around should they ALL hatch!

Another one started hatching just this morning I took some more pictures. I was a little calmer this time :) Also, one of the two that I gave to my mother hatched at the same time this morning down in Tennessee!!!

Interesting thread. We've got a lot of mantis here just in the past few years. Egg cases are stuck to fence posts, to the side of the house and even on pieces of firewood! Several times I have seen one just in time to save it from the fire. I've seen newly hatched out brown babies, and I've seen small green ones on leaves, but I will have to bring a case inside and see if I can watch them turn green (before they devour each other as a first meal). Interesting about the humidity, I'll have to remember that.

Oh, I love this thread! MaryE, they survive up here in the PNW? I don't think I've seen one here yet. Would love to have these in my garden. I wonder if they are good for the veggie garden? I'm having a heck of a time with cabbage moth worms and other crawling varmits!

Morph, they are too cute! I hope you got them all out of the house! :-D

LOL ~ thx, Sue :)

They are carnivores only as I understand from all the reading I've done. Think I mentioned this before, but they'll eat both good & bad bugs. I'm spreading mine around so hopefully they don't eat each other and hopefully their population increases. They are either on a risk list of some sort or protection list. I hope to help them continue to survive and survive WELL!

When they first hatch the spiders & ants are enemies until they get bigger. Also, if a bird sees them, they'll pick it up for a quick snack! Bats also like them especially as they get older...

Too cool Morph,I will have to bookmark your Hyper as he is showing none available.

Root, they really are a lot of fun and so good for the environment, too!

From what I can tell, this man must have so many in his area that it's best that he does kind of "spread the wealth" if the goal is to help them expand back to normal population.

Perhaps they are all sold for this year. More egg cases will be layed in the fall. Then, next spring is probably when he collects them and offers them on eBay. I was fascinated that they layed the egg cases in the fall and the parents die during the winter months. But, this is their cycle of life.

Like I said, they are really fun and I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who is interested, especially with kids (or, for those of us who are still really kids at heart :)

I will try again to get one,you said you did a dozen?had this little guy this spring,so there must have been a pod somewhere close

Great shot, Root! I think he's reading about the protein listed on the label and wondering if it's something he can eat ~ lol! I'm not good at all at spotting these guys let alone a little one like that.

That's so cool that you know you have them around your garden!!

When I was a child in Louisiana, they were everywhere, so I can't imagine there would be any problem with them there. I also have quite a few around my house every year here in Central Texas. I have both the walking stick and the ones that look like little martians, and some of the stick looking ones are as much as 10 inches long and as big around as my thumb. I like the martians better, less creepy looking. I need to check out the egg cases, because I want to know what to show Granddarling and I never have known what they look like. She loves bugs!

I was out pruning back my spent raspberry canes yesterday, found 5 young 'uns. They were (I hope!) feasting on some of the things that attack my raspberries. Glad they are there, but hope I don't see them later in the fall when they get huge. *shiver

Aimee, I suspect you mean a "real, live" egg case to show your granddarling. But, the picture I posted at the beginning of the thread is really how they look. It really didn't change at all after all those mantids fell from it. Truly amazing process....

LOL, Lupine! Mabye I'll drop some off near your neighborhood next time I'm near Columbus (just kidding!)

So I should look on what? For a sort of thing that looks much like the sac on some spiders that is filled with eggs?

Thanks!

*hiding from Morph

Aimee, I wondered the same thing. After reading through many books about these (children's books), I believe the best place to locate the egg cases are in:

"...open areas and fields also provides the opportunity to observe the egg cases of the Praying Mantis. The female lays eggs in a frothy mass that dries into hardened brown foam."

In the Fall, I'd look for a field of milkweed or something similar. I bet you'd find some there.

LOL, Lupine!

Found another young'un today! This time on my standard 'Red Fairy' rose. Busy chomping a Japanese beetle :) It was bigger than the mantid. So that's how they grow so big!!! *grin

*hiding again

This mantis egg case is on a fence rail. It is about 1 1/2 inches long. Our mature mantis grow to about 3 1/2 to 4 inches long, so larger mantis probably make proportonately larger cases. They don't seem to be fussy about where they stick these things as long as it looks to them to be a protected spot. Some of them are in anything but a protected place, like the west side of a metal fencepost or the side of my house.

That's a great shot, MaryE!

Is it this year's yet? Ours have hatched already and I was curious if yours might hatch a little later?

I thought they would only lay their egg cases on twigs or branches, but apparently not! I'm glad you posted it ☺

Very cool photo!

Thanks, Morph and others. I need to become more aware as I go about the pasture. I always have plenty of the little guys, but never knew from where.

Our mantis have hatched already, I'm seeing small ones anywhere from an inch long up to 3 inches. Yesterday while I was weeding there was a light brown one about 3 inches long trying to escape the activity, he crawled up my arm and was transplanted to a nearby bush. I'll try to get some pictures of some of them. One year we watched a mantis lay her eggs, maybe I could capture that with my digital cam, I hope so.

Ok, I just read through this thread and it's just the coolest thing. I had no idea how they hatched. thanks so much for sharing

isn't it amazing, what you can get on Ebay?