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Home » Forums » Rearing Wild Insects

Found a praying mantis.

Hello,

My family and I homeschool, a few weeks ago a praying mantis was on our porch, of course being homeschoolers we took it in and set it up in a bug home, sometime in the last 2 nights she has made an ootheca i think...ill post pictures id love more info, we've had a very warm house lately as its been freezing at night and our school room has been cozy...so I am not at all surprised to find this...wondering when it will be hatching, how do I keep it from hatching...been feeding her about every 4 days or so...its been a neat experience for the children and myself as well!!
We live in Washington state.
Thanks for the read and any help!!
~Homeschool Mom
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Contributed by Homeschool Mom WA on 27 October, 2020 - 1:15pm

Praying Mantis
Congratulations on your new ootheca. I think that it is best if you put the ootheca outside so that it can hatch naturally in the wild. It will stay dormant until the weather outside gets warmer. I'd recommend not keeping it in the warm house because then the mantis nymhs will hatch too early and there would be a lot of tiny mantises to feed and care for. If you release them outside now thy'd most likely die during the cold night. So, you can put the egg sac in your yard or a safe place like a bush or shrub somewhere. Not in the open where a predator can eat it. You can keep the mother mantis and perhaps, as you give her a healthy amount of crickets, she'll make more!
… GraceZee, 27 October, 2021 - 10:10am login or register to post comments

 
Mantis
My experience (at least with Carolina mantises) is that the females die after laying their ootheca, but maybe not in all cases!
… Bugologist1, 10 April, 2022 - 6:57pm login or register to post comments

 
Chinese and European mantises
Chinese and European mantises will definitely lay more than one ooth before dying.
… Hexapoda, 10 April, 2022 - 10:37pm login or register to post comments

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