Praying Mantis

I bought a cocoon of praying mantis about three or four weeks ago, and they hatched this morning....there are hundreds of them! I hope they do a good job controlling the bad bugs....Have any of you done this before?

Most of them will get eaten... by one another! This is natural. You will end up with a couple Mantids. It took me a long time before I found this out... They will not stay together, but will (hopefully) stay in the area. One time I saw one it grabbed my finger & freaked me out. I could FEEL it's grip, it was so strong! Now I just watch them from afar. They have voracious appetites, but will also eat beneficial bugs. Relocate them where the bad bugs are. Birds will also dine on Mantids, so relocate one to a hidden spot if it is visible. They seem to like the siding of the house, and screen doors. I am sure you know, but the female chows the male after they mate.

Yes - I heard that! They are interesting little critters...They are so tiny right now. They rock back and forth when I look at them, like some sort of ritual...I just want to keep them off my caterpillars and butterflies!

I used to feed them ground beef when they hatched inside. Now I know they don't need it, cause they chow each other! A true treasure in the garden, indeed!

JRush -

So do you still feed them beef or will they not eat it in preference of each other?

I haven't done a mantis egg in years... they built houses in the fields where I used to find the egg cases. Anyhow, the beef is not needed as they dine on one another! I did give them water...misted on the side of the container. They drown very easily when they are so tiny! If they get hit with a droplet they usually die... Amazing that such a fragile creature turns into such a powerful little monster, isn't it? I gave my niece a mantis hand puppet... the face is so realistic & cool!

I wonder if I can get a cocoon here in europe? We certainly have some native species over here. I'll have to do a search...

I'd love to have some patrolling my plants

We used to have a field of grasses, daisies, thistles & other "weeds" next to our home, and I used to find them stuck on the tall grasses. I would pull them off & wait til Spring for them to hatch. Are there any fields nearby where you can find some? I usually did not see any of them after they hatched each Spring. I don't know where they go, but I guess they have a "territory" that they guard.

Ah, what do they look like?
I have found a very strange whitish sac attached to grass in our orchard. I wonder if this could be one?

Does anyone have a pic?

http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/dec/papr/mantis.html , http://davesgarden.com/t/362594/praying+manthis

Thanks MVR
I'll take a pic of the thing I think might be an egg case (if it's still there) and see what you all think - but I have to take my mum shopping first...

I had my eggs out for about 5 weeks but they hasn't hatched yet. I can't wait for them to come out and start eating! There are bugs around my strawberries and I hate to use chemicals on edible.

Here is some information on praying mantis and the phone number of the place where I bought mine.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2154.html

This message was edited Jun 21, 2004 4:51 PM

Oooh I never did get out for that photo - but thanks for that excellent link. The description of the egg cases makes me very hopeful that that is what I have

I too don't use chemicals, so these will be welcome as long as they don't start in on my hoverflies etc...

I have quite a few mantis, but I am afraid to pick them up. Do they bite? Some people say yes and others say no. Before I try to pick one up I would like the real truth!