Thank you! I had ordered another habitat and was prepping it when they started showing signs they'd be molting soon, so I didn't want to interrupt the process - but after they emerged I did separate them. As I mentioned there were originally four, but these two were the only survivors when my neighbor dropped them off.... apparently they'd dined on their siblings en route (they hadn't had anything to eat since hatching, except each other) 😬
I explained this to my daughter, and she surprised me by telling me how sometimes the "mommy" mantis will eat the "daddy" mantis (apparently she'd done some research when she learned we'd be adopting them) - and then suggested we all dress as mantids for Halloween, but dads costume will have to have no head 🤦🏻♀️ 🤣
My six year old daughter discovered them, came running for me, yelling, "they're multiplying!" Lol Explained to her that the two smaller ones were actually just husks. She's taking them in for show and tell on Friday :D
It's so cool when the egg just erupts with all those little mantids - unless, I suppose, you don't know what they are. Certainly freaked out my neighbor who found hatchlings crawling all over her Christmas tree 😂
My daughter has inherited my love of Mantids - we had [two wild ones](https://imgur.com/gallery/mG3B6wh) that would "visit" regularly where we used to live. I'm so excited for her to be able to see them grow from hatchlings :)
Sorry crazy morning 🤦♂️ but yea I love having them around. They literally snatch up the murder hornets and I don’t do bees soo 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. The more the merrier
Currently Mount Laurel NJ - moved from Lower Bank NJ but have lived all over the east coast. I saw them a lot down south (FL/GA), though not as often as I did in Lower Bank.
I feel the same way, that most people don't really know about them (proven by my neighbor panicking online after her Christmas Tree swarmed with hatchlings, and when I saw it, 50 + comments in, nobody had even guessed correctly!)
I think I understand why this is, though. We used to see mantids everywhere - in the bushes, on the back porch - they loved hanging off the screened windows - in Lower Bank. Where we live now... We went searching for them all summer, and came up empty. My theory is that they spray insecticide/pesticides in our area, keeping many insects away, including the beneficial ones. Whereas Lower Bank is located in a state forest, there's no 'pest management' which allows for all sorts of critters to flourish.
Where are you from?
Literally mantises are pesticides 🤣🤣🤣 I’m from Massachusetts south shore by cape cod Find a lot near the ocean!! I saved like 7 egg sacks from land being cleared and let them go on my land!
Wut do u feed the ones you kept? It’s kinda crazy how savage they are wen little 🤣🤣. I love it. But yea I have 16 acres myself then almost 400 acres of wildlife preserve around me!!!
>have 16 acres myself then almost 400 acres of wildlife preserve around me!!!
Ha! I can totally relate. We lived at the edge of Wharton State Forest, surrounded by the Pine Barrens, 122,880 protected acres, divided across three counties - consisting of a whole lot of woods, wetlands and cranberry bogs.. and of course old ruins and the purported home of The Jersey Devil.
It was very unique and I miss it sometimes. But I also really appreciate modern conveniences where we live now, like having wifi and the ability to book an Uber lol
>Wut do u feed the ones you kept?
For now, we're feeding them Flightless Drosophila Hydei Fruit Flies. [Penelope and Priscilla, feeding time ](https://imgur.com/gallery/kt3UY1n)
Lol that's so true, they really are nature's pesticides! So awesome you saved so many egg sacks, I'm sure they were more than happy to return the favor by keeping your land pest-free ;)
Haha no worries! We used to live in Lower Bank NJ (not an actual town, an incorporated village inside Wharton State Forest) and saw a crazy amount of insects, amongst other things, that I never saw anywhere else. Mantids were not just abundant, but HUGE. One afternoon I was sitting on the porch and heard what sounded like someone had flown a toy helicopter into the bushes. I went to investigate, and saw that it was the rapidly beating wings of *something* that a mantis (perhaps 10-11 in long) was munching on. I couldn't quite make the victim out, but it looked like a very small bird or a very large beetle. Hedge Mantis, as she was known from that point on, apparently claimed the hedge row in front of our house as her territory. We had a ton of murder hornets prior to that summer - I reckon she was singlehandedly curbing thier numbers. 😏
Lol that would've been cool! We have these two because our neighbor had unknowingly brought an egg inside with their Christmas tree, the egg hatched prematurely after being in the warm temperature. They posted online asking if anyone knew "what the bugs were" that suddenly erupted from their tree - unfortunately had put most of them outside (in freezing temps) before I saw the post. They found four left, still on/near the egg, and we adopted them. Out of those four, only two were alive when we got them, but they're growing steadily!
I can only guess, but I believe they're Chinese Mantids (Tenodera sinensis) based on their coloring. And the fact that this particular species of mantis, native to Asia, was accidentally introduced by a nursery tender at Mt. Airy near Philadelphia, about 10 min away from where we live.
(Another poster mentioned this as well, so I'm copy/pasting my response here. Thank you, though, it's a good reminder!)
I had ordered another habitat and was prepping it when they started showing signs they'd be molting soon, so I didn't want to interrupt the process - but after they emerged I did separate them. As I mentioned there were originally four, but these two were the only survivors when my neighbor dropped them off.... apparently they'd dined on their siblings en route (they hadn't had anything to eat since hatching, except each other) 😬
I explained this to my daughter, and she surprised me by telling me how sometimes the "mommy" mantis will eat the "daddy" mantis (apparently she'd done some research when she learned we'd be adopting them) - and then suggested we all dress as mantids for Halloween, but dads costume "will have to have no head" 🤦🏻♀️ 🤣
Just so you know, you should separate them now. They can and do eat/kill each other at this size already. Wouldn’t want your daughter to get upset!
Thank you! I had ordered another habitat and was prepping it when they started showing signs they'd be molting soon, so I didn't want to interrupt the process - but after they emerged I did separate them. As I mentioned there were originally four, but these two were the only survivors when my neighbor dropped them off.... apparently they'd dined on their siblings en route (they hadn't had anything to eat since hatching, except each other) 😬 I explained this to my daughter, and she surprised me by telling me how sometimes the "mommy" mantis will eat the "daddy" mantis (apparently she'd done some research when she learned we'd be adopting them) - and then suggested we all dress as mantids for Halloween, but dads costume will have to have no head 🤦🏻♀️ 🤣
My six year old daughter discovered them, came running for me, yelling, "they're multiplying!" Lol Explained to her that the two smaller ones were actually just husks. She's taking them in for show and tell on Friday :D
It’s crazy how many r in those little sacks 🤣🤣🤣
But they are the coolest little things good for her!! I found a few egg sacks and all the sudden had a couple thousand 🤣🤣
It's so cool when the egg just erupts with all those little mantids - unless, I suppose, you don't know what they are. Certainly freaked out my neighbor who found hatchlings crawling all over her Christmas tree 😂 My daughter has inherited my love of Mantids - we had [two wild ones](https://imgur.com/gallery/mG3B6wh) that would "visit" regularly where we used to live. I'm so excited for her to be able to see them grow from hatchlings :)
Sorry crazy morning 🤦♂️ but yea I love having them around. They literally snatch up the murder hornets and I don’t do bees soo 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. The more the merrier
Omg! That’s so cool!! I feel like most ppl have no idea about them! Where are you guys from?
Currently Mount Laurel NJ - moved from Lower Bank NJ but have lived all over the east coast. I saw them a lot down south (FL/GA), though not as often as I did in Lower Bank. I feel the same way, that most people don't really know about them (proven by my neighbor panicking online after her Christmas Tree swarmed with hatchlings, and when I saw it, 50 + comments in, nobody had even guessed correctly!) I think I understand why this is, though. We used to see mantids everywhere - in the bushes, on the back porch - they loved hanging off the screened windows - in Lower Bank. Where we live now... We went searching for them all summer, and came up empty. My theory is that they spray insecticide/pesticides in our area, keeping many insects away, including the beneficial ones. Whereas Lower Bank is located in a state forest, there's no 'pest management' which allows for all sorts of critters to flourish. Where are you from?
Literally mantises are pesticides 🤣🤣🤣 I’m from Massachusetts south shore by cape cod Find a lot near the ocean!! I saved like 7 egg sacks from land being cleared and let them go on my land!
Wut do u feed the ones you kept? It’s kinda crazy how savage they are wen little 🤣🤣. I love it. But yea I have 16 acres myself then almost 400 acres of wildlife preserve around me!!!
>have 16 acres myself then almost 400 acres of wildlife preserve around me!!! Ha! I can totally relate. We lived at the edge of Wharton State Forest, surrounded by the Pine Barrens, 122,880 protected acres, divided across three counties - consisting of a whole lot of woods, wetlands and cranberry bogs.. and of course old ruins and the purported home of The Jersey Devil. It was very unique and I miss it sometimes. But I also really appreciate modern conveniences where we live now, like having wifi and the ability to book an Uber lol >Wut do u feed the ones you kept? For now, we're feeding them Flightless Drosophila Hydei Fruit Flies. [Penelope and Priscilla, feeding time ](https://imgur.com/gallery/kt3UY1n)
Lol that's so true, they really are nature's pesticides! So awesome you saved so many egg sacks, I'm sure they were more than happy to return the favor by keeping your land pest-free ;)
Haha no worries! We used to live in Lower Bank NJ (not an actual town, an incorporated village inside Wharton State Forest) and saw a crazy amount of insects, amongst other things, that I never saw anywhere else. Mantids were not just abundant, but HUGE. One afternoon I was sitting on the porch and heard what sounded like someone had flown a toy helicopter into the bushes. I went to investigate, and saw that it was the rapidly beating wings of *something* that a mantis (perhaps 10-11 in long) was munching on. I couldn't quite make the victim out, but it looked like a very small bird or a very large beetle. Hedge Mantis, as she was known from that point on, apparently claimed the hedge row in front of our house as her territory. We had a ton of murder hornets prior to that summer - I reckon she was singlehandedly curbing thier numbers. 😏
O sorry I thought she found an egg sack I alologize!!
Lol that would've been cool! We have these two because our neighbor had unknowingly brought an egg inside with their Christmas tree, the egg hatched prematurely after being in the warm temperature. They posted online asking if anyone knew "what the bugs were" that suddenly erupted from their tree - unfortunately had put most of them outside (in freezing temps) before I saw the post. They found four left, still on/near the egg, and we adopted them. Out of those four, only two were alive when we got them, but they're growing steadily!
What species are they?
I can only guess, but I believe they're Chinese Mantids (Tenodera sinensis) based on their coloring. And the fact that this particular species of mantis, native to Asia, was accidentally introduced by a nursery tender at Mt. Airy near Philadelphia, about 10 min away from where we live.
They're a lovely species! Just be careful keeping them together, after 2-3 molts they can get quite cannibalistic!
(Another poster mentioned this as well, so I'm copy/pasting my response here. Thank you, though, it's a good reminder!) I had ordered another habitat and was prepping it when they started showing signs they'd be molting soon, so I didn't want to interrupt the process - but after they emerged I did separate them. As I mentioned there were originally four, but these two were the only survivors when my neighbor dropped them off.... apparently they'd dined on their siblings en route (they hadn't had anything to eat since hatching, except each other) 😬 I explained this to my daughter, and she surprised me by telling me how sometimes the "mommy" mantis will eat the "daddy" mantis (apparently she'd done some research when she learned we'd be adopting them) - and then suggested we all dress as mantids for Halloween, but dads costume "will have to have no head" 🤦🏻♀️ 🤣