Wow and thought my home was well insulated Praying Mantis Egg case

[tlindsey]

Look out of our living room window and spotted this Praying Mantis Egg case in the middle of the Japanese Barberry bush. We get brutally cold weather here where I live but I guarantee that in spring that will hatch. Last time I pulled a egg case off and let it hatch in a large jar in my basement. It had to be approximately 200 baby Mantis that I released in my flower beds.
Look in the upper center of the leafless shrub. This may be the female that layed the egg case but not sure. Same bush only picture was taken while it was warm probably the fall but don't remember.

 

[tlindsey]

Look out of our living room window and spotted this Praying Mantis Egg case in the middle of the Japanese Barberry bush. We get brutally cold weather here where I live but I guarantee that in spring that will hatch. Last time I pulled a egg case off and let it hatch in a large jar in my basement. It had to be approximately 200 baby Mantis that I released in my flower beds.
Look in the upper center of the leafless shrub. This may be the female that played the egg case but not sure. Same bush only picture was taken while it was warm probably the fall but don't remember.

View attachment 1455053

 

[deeda]

At least you hatched the egg case in a glass jar.

I remember when I was 10 or 11 years old I brought a Mantis egg case home and placed it in my window sill in my bedroom. It overwintered there and come late spring or early summer the weather was warm and I left my interior window sash open before I went to school that day. I came home to my Mom in great agitation as it appears the egg case hatched and there were at least 100 baby mantises all over my bedroom. I carefully collected them and released them outdoors to live a happy life!

 

[tlindsey]

At least you hatched the egg case in a glass jar.

I remember when I was 10 or 11 years old I brought a Mantis egg case home and placed it in my window sill in my bedroom. It overwintered there and come late spring or early summer the weather was warm and I left my interior window sash open before I went to school that day. I came home to my Mom in great agitation as it appears the egg case hatched and there were at least 100 baby mantises all over my bedroom. I carefully collected them and released them outdoors to live a happy life!

Aww what a cool story Dee even though Mom didn't think it was cool lol.

 

[krichardson]

I used to come across mantis egg cases in my backyard pretty often but I don't recall seeing any last year.

 

[tlindsey]

I used to come across mantis egg cases in my backyard pretty often but I don't recall seeing any last year.

Out of all of the little ones I released only spotted 4 of them. Birds and other critters probably got to most of them.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Several decades ago when I was in jr high (6-7-8 grade). A friend and I collected a few mantis egg cases in the winter. We cut off the stems and took them to a teacher. She stuck the stems in a jar and we forgot about them. One morning when we came to school there were hundreds of the baby mantis all over the place. The thing I recall most vividly was watching them catching and eating each other. Some kids were freaked out but most had a good time watching them.

 

[krichardson]

Hello; Several decades ago when I was in jr high (6-7-8 grade). A friend and I collected a few mantis egg cases in the winter. We cut off the stems and took them to a teacher. She stuck the stems in a jar and we forgot about them. One morning when we came to school there were hundreds of the baby mantis all over the place. The thing I recall most vividly was watching them catching and eating each other. Some kids were freaked out but most had a good time watching them.

Yep,they are ravenously hungry when newly hatched and the nearest possible victim is fair game to them.....including their siblings.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

The egg case is called the ooth. You shoud be expecting tons of babies in a week-3 weeks.

 

[jjohnwm]

Mantises must be one of the coolest critters on the planet; the fact that they are small insects commonly seen in backyards makes people take them for granted and forget how unique and amazing they are. When I was a kid I would commonly collect mantis egg sacs in the fall and keep them in the unheated shed, and then bring them in periodically to hatch out and provide live food for the other assorted predatory little critters I was always keeping. I shudder to think how many thousands of mantis larvae met their end this way. But they were always abundant in southern Ontario, and I never thought about it.

I haven't seen one in the ten years since I moved to arctic Manitoba, and I miss them.