When we ordered our butterfly larvae from InsectLore, we also ordered a praying mantis egg case. They arrived the same day, but the butterflies did their thing much more quickly; they completed their metamorphosis, mated, and were released to lay eggs and die, before anything at all happened with the mantis egg case. But on Sunday, Ken noticed that Lacy--our very observant WonderDog--was sniffing and staring at the Praying Mantis Pagoda, so he went to look and voila! Baby praying mantises! (Lacy likes nature study, too!)
Because they will eat each other if they don't have anything else to eat, and because there were SO many of them, we went ahead and released most of them all around the yard. Ken said he felt like a praying mantis farmer. We decided to set the egg case out in the garden so that any remaining mantises could emerge there. At least one mantis was still on it; you can see it if you look closely. (That's Ken holding the egg case.)
Because they will eat each other if they don't have anything else to eat, and because there were SO many of them, we went ahead and released most of them all around the yard. Ken said he felt like a praying mantis farmer. We decided to set the egg case out in the garden so that any remaining mantises could emerge there. At least one mantis was still on it; you can see it if you look closely. (That's Ken holding the egg case.) The egg case feels kind of crunchy; I think it feels a bit like styrofoam. Last year I found what I thought was some weird growth on one of our blueberry bushes, so I yanked it off and poked and prodded it and ended up squashing it, still not figuring out what it was. When I started browsing the InsectLore website, deciding what to order and when, I realized that a praying mantis egg case is what I destroyed last spring! I would have left it alone if I knew what it was, because praying mantises are great for the garden; they eat all kinds of insects that eat my plants, so I want lots of happy mantises in our yard!
When all the mantises were crawling around in their "pagoda," they were creeping me out a little, probably because they looked like ants and it made my skin crawl. However, I know the good they do and even had one briefly as a pet (when I was a kid), so I'm not afraid of them. Guess I just don't like any large number of insects! Once we'd let some of them out, I wasn't creeped out anymore and didn't mind one or two on my hand as I released them on various plants. I felt like a pretty cool nature-studyin' mama letting one sit on my finger while taking a photo. {smile}
We tried to keep a few, but I think we waited too long to capture some tiny insects for them to eat, and those all died. We're hoping that most of the ones we released survived and will get big and strong eating things like japanese beetles! {bwa ha ha ha ha!} This little guy--or gal--is sitting on a rose leaf, and you can see on the closest leaf that something has already been nibbling there. Do your bug-eating thing, little mantis!
We're all hoping we'll see them again, once they're bigger, and Kathryn is hoping we can capture one to keep for a little while.
When all the mantises were crawling around in their "pagoda," they were creeping me out a little, probably because they looked like ants and it made my skin crawl. However, I know the good they do and even had one briefly as a pet (when I was a kid), so I'm not afraid of them. Guess I just don't like any large number of insects! Once we'd let some of them out, I wasn't creeped out anymore and didn't mind one or two on my hand as I released them on various plants. I felt like a pretty cool nature-studyin' mama letting one sit on my finger while taking a photo. {smile}We tried to keep a few, but I think we waited too long to capture some tiny insects for them to eat, and those all died. We're hoping that most of the ones we released survived and will get big and strong eating things like japanese beetles! {bwa ha ha ha ha!} This little guy--or gal--is sitting on a rose leaf, and you can see on the closest leaf that something has already been nibbling there. Do your bug-eating thing, little mantis!We're all hoping we'll see them again, once they're bigger, and Kathryn is hoping we can capture one to keep for a little while.
