Praying Mantis eggs....

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: rivan
I've seen mantii (?) here before, but is there a map of their 'normal' range? I'd *love* to get some of these...

http://www.insectlore.com/xlorepedia_stuff/praying_mantis.html

 

[sygyzy]

Praying Mantis's are sort of scary looking to me. I wouldn't one, much less a thousand, anywhere near me.

 

[slatr]

I tried raising them once.. they ate my kittens then my steaks.

 

[ScottMac]

THey're definately a wunnerful thing, and they're pretty much indiginous to everywhere (one flavor of mantis ot another).

They hatch to about 1/4" long, get to be about 1/2 inch in a couple weeks ... when they're small, they go after mosquitos that hide in the bushes & trees.

As they get bigger, they'll eat anything their size or smaller.

Before I started putting them out in the spring, I couldn't sit on the front porch without being swarmed ... after they hatched, maybe one or two mosquitos all night.

Females get to be *big* (~6 inches, maybe more) ... males ~4 inches or so.

I get mine from Planet Natural (www.planetnatural.com) a three-pack is ~$10, shipping by US mail is free.

Ten packs are ~20.00. I usually get two twenty packs, because some co-workers and friend always want a couple. They'll cover something like 50 linear feet / 5000 square feet, something like that (per egg case).

FWIW

Scott

 

[thecrecarc]

Originally posted by: slatr
I tried raising them once.. they ate my kittens then my steaks.

lol

 

[Skunkwourk]

ok this is probably a dumb question but if you left them all in a jar, would they eventually start eating each other?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: cRazYdood

Originally posted by: MisterJackson
Last year I noticed our local "Feed and Seed" store had Praying Mantis and Lady Bug eggs for sale. They were out of Lady Bugs, so we only got the Mantis eggs. There were 4 of them and each egg is supposed to hatch 50 to 100 of the little boogers.

they were refrigerated when we got them to prevent hatching. All you have to do is take them home and leave them out, and in two weeks or so you've got an army of these things to do your bidding (our genetic mind control experiments went terribly awry and they revolted against us!).

seriously though, we put them in a ten gallon tank with a mesh lid. After two weeks nothing happened. We were disappointed . On the fourth week though, I walked by and noticed what looked like mold at first covering every part of the inside of the tank.

It was probably close to 1000 baby Praying Mantis bugs when I looked closer.

that was so freaking cool, and my son loved it. We released them and many months later would see one about every other day just chilling out in the yard.

I almost forgot, we had a bad mosquito problem before, but not after this! That was a plus.

Text

Text

Cliffs:

- Buy praying mantis eggs and watch them hatch!

- Good for the environment, a natural pest control solution.

Just because they eat mosquitoes doesn't make the introduction of a foreign species a good thing for the environment.

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Do not release them unless you KNOW that the species is native to your area!!!!!

:roll:

PMs are native to the entire world, but thanks for the alarmism.

 

[Toonces]

I think those two are trying to alert people from buying "pirate bug" or other species because the name sounds cool or to handle perceived "pests" and releasing them into the local ecosystem.

Some due diligence into habitats and diets of these animals would be prudent for anyone who want to introduce new species to their backyard; at least that's what I took from it.

Here's an example about coccinellidae introduction in Ontario

Just because one species of a Family is prevalent in an area doesn't mean it is prudent to introduce others as well.

It actually impacted greatly upon Wine production in 2001; so there are even economic impacts. Text

 

[thelanx]

Originally posted by: Eghck
ok this is probably a dumb question but if you left them all in a jar, would they eventually start eating each other?

From this page:

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: rivan
I've seen mantii (?) here before, but is there a map of their 'normal' range? I'd *love* to get some of these...

http://www.insectlore.com/xlorepedia_stuff/praying_mantis.html

Egg masses, collected in September or October and brought into the warm classroom, have been known to hatch in early December of the same year. Then, large numbers of very tiny mantids will suddenly appear and, if not furnished fresh, live food, they will eat each other until only one or a few mantids are left. In the laboratory, the egg mass may be refrigerated for a few weeks, and then incubated at room temperature. Often, no refrigeration is necessary.