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Have you released a praying mantis in your yard ? (Original Post) In_The_Wind Apr 2021 OP
We hatched praying mantises one year. Quite interesting, while it lasted . . . Journeyman Apr 2021 #1
That is typical of mantises... Rollo Apr 2021 #3
Sounds like the answer is to put the eggs in the neighbors yard. ret5hd Apr 2021 #6
Many years ago.. luvs2sing Apr 2021 #2
Yeah I brought home some "cocoons" once when I was a kid Midnightwalk Apr 2021 #4
Not I, but did 'catch' this, a while ago! elleng Apr 2021 #5
Beautiful. In_The_Wind Apr 2021 #7
you probably mean 3 egg cases, not single eggs Kali Apr 2021 #8
Yes, 3 egg cases. In_The_Wind Apr 2021 #10
If you have hummingbirds GemDigger Apr 2021 #9

Journeyman

(15,125 posts)
1. We hatched praying mantises one year. Quite interesting, while it lasted . . .
Sun Apr 18, 2021, 12:50 PM
Apr 2021

Shortly after they hatched, they all left the yard. Can't say if they ate many bugs or not on the way out; they were only there a few short hours.

Rollo

(2,559 posts)
3. That is typical of mantises...
Sun Apr 18, 2021, 01:04 PM
Apr 2021

After hatching they tend to migrate, perhaps to the next yard or yards. I guess it's some sort of population protection strategy. Because, you know, they will eat each other if kept confined.

I put a mantid egg case in the back yard here some years ago. One of them, as I recall, actually grew up and may have returned. I remember seeing an adult in the yard a month or two later.

Mantids are very cool, and generally beneficial. Although I've read they can predate honey bees as well as nuisance insects.

luvs2sing

(2,222 posts)
2. Many years ago..
Sun Apr 18, 2021, 12:54 PM
Apr 2021

We had mantises in our yard when I was a kid. My dad built a big cage for a pair, and all the neighborhood kids would come by and feed them grasshoppers. We had big, healthy mantises. In the fall, we would have an egg case, which dad put in the rose bushes. The next year, we did it all again. It’s one of the weirdest memories of my weird childhood.

Midnightwalk

(3,131 posts)
4. Yeah I brought home some "cocoons" once when I was a kid
Sun Apr 18, 2021, 01:10 PM
Apr 2021

From the marsh and shoved them in a box in the mudroom.

About a week later my mom was screaming her head off like bloody murder. The mudroom was crawling with what was probably 100s but seemed like 1000s of cute little praying manitises.

They dispersed outside pretty quick. I saw praying mantises around their house for years later. Maybe they were always were there, but now I really knew what they looked like.

Mom eventually got over it .

Kali

(55,575 posts)
8. you probably mean 3 egg cases, not single eggs
Sun Apr 18, 2021, 02:52 PM
Apr 2021

each can hatch our a couple of hundred mantises, of which maybe 20% will make it to adulthood. I have never purchased them but we have them in the yard - especially in grasshopper years. the females will have a very swollen abdomen and the males will be more stick-like. they will learn to drink a drop of water from your finger if you are patient.


In_The_Wind

(72,300 posts)
10. Yes, 3 egg cases.
Sun Apr 18, 2021, 04:45 PM
Apr 2021

I hatched some 20 years ago at our old home.

Last summer we saw a Walking Stick hanging around here.

The yellow jackets were chasing us out of the back yard. I would like to avoid that if possible.

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