![]() ![]() ![]() As we watch them, we’ve been feeding them fruit flies, as well as any other small, live insects my boys catch. ![]() We decided to keep a few praying mantises in our butterfly net for continued observation. So as soon as we noticed they had hatched, we took them outside to release them into our garden. One of the things our research told us was that praying mantis nymphs will begin to eat each other if they are not released or given food rather quickly. Last year, we had a large beetle infestation in one of our gardens, so we are hoping that the praying mantises can provide an organic means of preventing it from happening again. They will rid your garden of moths, mosquitoes, flies, grasshoppers, and other insects that you might consider garden pests. Praying mantises are fantastic insectivores. While the information that we read about praying mantises said that up to 200 nymphs can emerge from one egg, I was still in awe at the huge number of creatures that were now covering every surface in our jar. Then one afternoon, my 7-year-old peeked in and excitedly called all of us into the kitchen (Yes, in our small house we hatch insects in the kitchen because, well, that’s where we have a counter to put the jar. We checked it several times a day, to see if anything was happening, but day after day all looked the same. For weeks we had a hardened egg case sitting on a twig inside a glass jar. This week, we watched over a hundred praying mantis nymphs emerge from a single egg. We’ve seen ladybugs transform from larvae, to pupa, and then into the adult ladybugs we all recognize. We’ve observed as tiny caterpillars grew large, secreted a chrysalis, and emerged as butterflies (see HERE). In past years, we’ve watched ants make amazing tunnels. My boys and I have watched several different types of insects move through their life cycles. You can see the large egg case propped up on a small stick inside the jar. If you want your egg to hatch sooner, keep it in a refrigerator in a non-airtight container for 1-2 months before removing it. Our praying mantises, ready to be released into our garden. A praying mantis egg case typically hatches within a few weeks of hatching. ![]()
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