I hope she lays her eggs where her offspring will help me get the grasshopper population under control.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/natesplant ... hotostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/natesplant ... hotostream

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Nate Abbott

Nate -- this late in the season if I find a mantis I catch it, jar it up, and start feeding it crickets. She'll keep laying eggs almost as long as you keep feeding her. I once got 8 egg cases this way. Kept them in the fridge all winter, then took them out in the spring. Best way to guarantee baby mantises next year, as most of the "wild" cases I find get eaten by birds over the winter.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Thanks for the tip I doubt I will see her again but I will definitely do it if I find any more.

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Nate Abbott

I found my first mantis ever in the leaves on the ground when I was raking at about this time of year or a little later.

I've only seen one mantis this year just the one time, which was really disappointing compared to previous years. I'm still hoping to catch one this fall.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Went outside yesterday and found me another female and put it in a bottle with some grasshoppers.

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Nate Abbott

Don't forget to add a stick so she has somewhere to perch and lay the eggs.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Any egg cases yet?

I've been looking for mantises, but no luck yet. I suspect it's one of those "have to find it when you're not looking for it" things though. My plan B is to find an egg case. All of the ones I found last winter got eaten by birds before spring, so I'm going to save any I find this year.

BTW, I remember the mantis in the jar started smelling *really* bad before dying, even after cleaning the jar. Yuck.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

not sure what happened the mantis was partially eaten by the grasshoppers it died after 2 days

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Nate Abbott

I decided to Join you all here as it looks as if your having lots of fun. I have thousands of my own bamboo pics that i am going to start contributing. One of them is of a mantis i found and over winter have been keeping in a fishbowl on the counter, thanks for the info regarding eggs, is there anything that they need to lay eggs?

Ha! I saw this thread and thought maybe mike's wife (mantis) sent you some of his bamboo!

Ha! I saw this thread and thought maybe mike's wife (mantis) sent you some of his bamboo!

Hey Alan,

I too had a few praying mantises which laid eggcases. I kept them in the fridge but when I brought it out for the spring to hatch, they all never hatched.

Do you guys have any tips for storing eggcases? What kind of container and temperature should it be kept and when should I remove the egg case from the fridge to begin the hatching process?

I just keep them in a closed plastic jar in the fridge. I don't do anything special with them. When I take the jar out it usually takes at least a month before they hatch, possibly longer. (Outdoors here I usually see wild mantis babies in early to mid June, and that's when mine typically hatch too). I think I remember adding a few drops of water to the jar after bringing them out of the fridge to get the humidity up in the closed jar.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!