Praying mantis fun

[muddy]

Last summer my boy caught a praying mantis. We fed it for a few months and one day we woke up to a giant egg sac. Then a few weeks later a new egg sac. Then a few weeks later another egg sac! Anyway, Maddie eventually kicked off and we stores the egg sacs. Today I noticed movement. By the carnage it looks like they hatched a few days ago as most have been cannibalized, but some still alive. We released some, captured some, and put the 2 remaining egg sacs outside so they can hatch into the hostas, not the garage!!

Ideas on what to feed the little guys? They're small, 2 can easily fit on top of a dime. Thinking of getting some bananas xtrying to raise some fruit flies.

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[JNRBRONC]

I don't have any suggestions on what to feed them, letting them go seems like the easiest option.

We mowed a tall grass/weed field last summer and it was LOADED with praying mantis. We stopped before clear cutting the field to let them have some cover. We caught a dozen or so and moved them to the home place. We've found egg cases in multiple places this spring, hope they establish themselves.

 

[muddy]

Yes, I've talked to a few people this morning and it sounds like releasing him as about the only thing you can do. Even if we bought fruit fly larva or hatched fruit fly in some bananas on the counter they would be too big for the mantas to kill. They're gonna wanna eat aphids off of plants in the garden. Right now they're all outside with the lid off and hopefully dominating the hostel plants. The ones that I have inside I'll have to convince my son to let go I bet!

 

[LYON]

Very cool bugs. It's fun to watch them eat! We caught one once and I put a spider in with it. That mantas grabbed the spider and ate a couple of its legs off, then just started eating right down through its head and body, pretty gruesome way to die.

 

[muddy]

Hope they make it... just caught a dozen out of garage and released into the barberry

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[203ntyp]

That's pretty cool. That's one insect I like cause they probably eat ticks too! When I bush hog the fields and see Adults or egg sacks them I let them fly off or go around the eggs sacks. Sometimes I clip the sacks off and placed them in bushes around the house.

I also put an egg sack in an empty aquarium many years ago and couldn't believe how many of those little buggers hatched out. I let them go right away into the garden and flower beds.

 

[goatman]

One never knows what you can learn on this site. I'm transporting some this fall to the yard. Already have nitecrawlers established.

 

[Daver]

Good stuff...those types of endeavors are what you and your kids will talk about for years to come. Fun stuff!

 

[Meat Hunter]

I caught one when I was on vacation deer hunting one year and put it in a jar and set it on the counter in the camper to show my kids. I got back from hunting that night and sat down to eat and happened to look over at the counter and there it was just staring at me. Kinda bugged me out it just staring at me. Finally I couldn't take it any more, had to let it go. I just kept thinking if it got out I was a gonner.

 

[jkratz5]

Happened to us a few years ago too. It hatched inside and all the little bastards got out of the cage. That was fun