Mantis army unleashed

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workinforwood

workinforwood

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Joined
Mar 1, 2007
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Location
Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
The mosquitos and ants this year are the worst I can ever remember. I purchased 5 seed pods on ebay for $20. That is 1000-2000 praying mantis babies. Should hatch in a week or less. Even if they can't keep up I think its going to be way awesome! I have seen a few in my area, coolest bug ever, but now I should find them more often. I wish the lilly mantis could live here, as that bug actually looks beautiful.
 
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Jeff,
I was curious who you purchased your pods from...I have been kinda considering doing the same...you can pm me with that info if you don't wanna post to the forum.

Thanks..!
 
Yeah, I just installed a bug zapper in the yard. I hate killing the beneficial insects along with the bad, but I gotta do something. Need to build that bat house I've been talking about for ages and replace that martin house with it.

I love mantises, hope you get a good crop and if so I may try them too. The zapper is easy to unplug.
 
Way back in fifth grade, I found a pod on a bush. I snipped it off and took it to school in a jar with holes in the lid and, put it on the window sill to wait for the bugs to hatch. I didn't know what kind of bugs it had in it. One morning they had hatched overnight. Hundreds of Praying Mantises ALL OVER the class room.:eek: We have some wild looking ones down here in Florida. You should have plenty!
 
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dalecamino said:
Way back in fifth grade, I found a pod on a bush. I snipped it off and took it to school in a jar with holes in the lid and, put it on the window sill to wait for the bugs to hatch. I didn't know what kind of bugs it had in it. One morning they had hatched overnight. Hundreds of Praying Mantises ALL OVER the class room.:eek: We have some wild looking ones down here in Florida. You should have plenty!
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I had the same type of thing happen in my house as a kid, but we found two adult insects and then one morning woke up and found only one:confused:. Thinking this was odd we did a little research after seeing the egg pods (we thought they looked like spit!) found out that the female will often times eat the male after mating:eek:.

Needless to say, my mom wasn't too happy when all FOUR egg pods hatched overnight and our house was crawling with the little critters!!
 
Praying Mantis insects are cool. down here the locals call them devil horses and claim they'll bite you, But I think they been drinking out of the wrong jug, Walking stick bugs are also way cool, Good luck with the hatching.
 
I thouht I was going to see a blank with scrollsawed mantis. That would be also cool! But what a fun and great idea. I'm hope your daughter really enjoys it. Fun science.
 
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My brother was visiting and I found a big female mantis about 4" long. I had it on my hand, and gave it to him to look at. He was examining it with great interest. I started to say "It is just like the black widow spider..." when he flung it across the yard before I could continue "because the female eats the male after mating!" He wasn't amused.
 
bitshird said:
Praying Mantis insects are cool. down here the locals call them devil horses and claim they'll bite you, But I think they been drinking out of the wrong jug, Walking stick bugs are also way cool, Good luck with the hatching.
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I love them, but I picked a big on up one day and she didn't like it turned around an took a chunk out of my finger. I put her down rather quickly. I hadn't been drink'n not'n! They have a powerful bite! Very interesting but to watch.
 
Normally they don't bite people. I'm not sure who I bought from would have to look it up. I bought chinese mantis. They are not native to USA but they are too. They were imported to here decades ago and released on purpose. One of the few non native creatures that actually were a benefit to the environment. I have bats and bat house too but bats don't eat many insects until late July when fruit crops deminish. Bats are sweet though and will eat tons of mosquitos although only at night. Mantis eats all day and night and has few enemies.
 
This year we are fighting the fleas....they are so bad and I'm very grateful they are outside only

I always spread my cedar chips in the flowerbeds and it helps and even put out some DE.
 
PaulDoug said:
bitshird said:
Praying Mantis insects are cool. down here the locals call them devil horses and claim they'll bite you, But I think they been drinking out of the wrong jug, Walking stick bugs are also way cool, Good luck with the hatching.
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I love them, but I picked a big on up one day and she didn't like it turned around an took a chunk out of my finger. I put her down rather quickly. I hadn't been drink'n not'n! They have a powerful bite! Very interesting but to watch.
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Wow I thought these folks were just a little off kilter, I guess I won't be messing with them, I get attacked enough by Humming Vultures, And I feed the little suckers!!!
 
I didn't mean to imply anything negative about the creatures, I got bit because I picked it up by the body between my thumb and forefinger. I've had many crawl on me and never had a problem.
 
GEE Thanks, Dawn! I paid good money to watch that a few years ago. Well, maybe more than a few. That was when they made really scary movies. They allowed our minds to supply the really gruesome parts.

In the late 60's I bought some mantis pods through "Organic Gardening". We had a few small local green mantis here but these were those 4 - 5" long Chinese mantis. Now we have them in all sizes and color combos. They are just too cool. One must pick them up gently or they will take a nip right out of you. Allow them to rest on your hand or arm and watch them. It appears that they are studying you. I've often wondered if they were trying to figure out what I am or where to start feeding.:biggrin::smile:
Charles
 

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We did the same thing a couple years ago and had really good relults. If you leave a porch light on you can find them by your door in the summer and they get really big (5inches or so) on the bugs the light attracts. Now we have little egg sacks in our yard in the fall. Just check the brushy areas.
 
We did the same thing a couple years ago and had really good relults. If you leave a porch light on you can find them by your door in the summer and they get really big (5inches or so) on the bugs the light attracts. Now we have little egg sacks in our yard in the fall. Just check the brushy areas.
 
workinforwood said:
That's awesome Jon! Mine have not hatched yet, still not enough hot days, they need 80's at least and not just one day of it.
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Ah....80's! Our LOW last night was 86, headed for 113 today. I found a half inch one in my livingroom yesterday. I don't know how she got in, but I put her out in my garden. The ones we have here, the females are green, the males brown, so I know this one was a female. The males are about 2 inches, the females 4 or 5 inches long when mature.
 
sbwertz said:
Ah....80's! Our LOW last night was 86, headed for 113 today. I found a half inch one in my livingroom yesterday. I don't know how she got in, but I put her out in my garden. The ones we have here, the females are green, the males brown, so I know this one was a female. The males are about 2 inches, the females 4 or 5 inches long when mature.
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Oh, Sharon! We were thinking of taking a little trip to Phoenix, but 113 would likely just kill me! :eek:

Scott.
 
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this year i do not know whats up either....i need a million of those creatures!!! up here in NH. i have a bug light IN my garage so i can cast...its that nuts.

maybe i can bring in some bushes and put a pod or two in there too?
 
Scott said:
sbwertz said:
Ah....80's! Our LOW last night was 86, headed for 113 today. I found a half inch one in my livingroom yesterday. I don't know how she got in, but I put her out in my garden. The ones we have here, the females are green, the males brown, so I know this one was a female. The males are about 2 inches, the females 4 or 5 inches long when mature.
Click to expand...

Oh, Sharon! We were thinking of taking a little trip to Phoenix, but 113 would likely just kill me! :eek:

Scott.
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February! That's the time to come...actually from Nov. to March is really nice here. The only time it is really bad is monsoon...Late July & August usually.. when both the temp and humidity are high. It was only 108 yesterday after all, but 111 on Tuesday. But the humidity is only 16%. We run evaporative cooling during the hot dry months (Much cheaper than AC) and it stays in the mid to high 70s in the house. Switch to AC during monsoon when the evap isn't effective.
 
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