Subject: Preying Mantis Ootheca hatched
Location: Ypsilanti, MI
May 22, 2013 2:03 pm
Hi there bug guys,
A few months ago I submitted a pic and you kindly replied that it was a Preying Mantis Ootheca. I kept checking the one surviving Ootheca and I was lucky enough to catch them hatching. I have some other shots w my cameras ( this is one from my iphone) but wanted to pass this along Many many babies, yay!
Thank you again and I love your site
RR
Signature: Rachel
Hi again Rachel,
How nice to hear your ootheca has hatched. Just this past weekend we saw a tiny Mantis hatchling scuttling across the carob tree. We have never found an Ootheca in the yard, but we find several California Mantids each year. We are so happy our garden is home to native Mantids and not an invasive species. Though organic gardeners often purchase commercially available Ootheca so that they can grow foods organically without pesticides, we feel that the larger and more aggressive species like the Chinese Mantids and European Mantids might displace smaller, less aggressive, native species.