11/4/2023 0 Comments Preying mantis hatchingThe nymphs were tiny, no more 1/4” long, and from the top they resembled a very small mosquito. The ones that had already emerged stood perfectly still on the branch. It seemed to take tremendous effort for them to extricate themselves they’d paw furiously at the air and struggle to pull free, then pause to rest before starting in again. To my surprise and delight, the nymphs had arrived! There were about 20 baby mantises resting on the greenery, and several more were working their way out of the confines of the egg sac. The sac remained unchanged for several weeks, but one evening about two weeks ago, some movement in the jar caught my attention. So I broke off the portion of branch that held the ootheca, placed it in a jar on the kitchen counter, and hoped for the best. How the birds ever saw that small casing tucked among the greenery, I’ll never know, but I did know if I left it there, they’d come right back and the sac would be gone. A portion of the pointed end of the ootheca was pecked away, and I worried that the ragged indentations might have destroyed the contents inside. They both flew off as soon as I opened the back door and headed out to assess the damage. They were hopping around and circling each other aggressively near the junipers, and I suddenly realized they were arguing over who was going to get to eat that egg sac for breakfast. In mid-April, I heard a ruckus and looked out the back window to see a magpie and a crow squawking noisily at one another. Each day I went outside to check for progress, but none seemed evident. I left the ootheca alone in anticipation of getting a chance to see some nymphs hatching once the weather warmed. The sac was a cream-colored, oval shape with a ridged, papery texture and is called an ootheca each sac can contain anywhere from dozens to hundreds of mantises. I wasn’t sure what the sac was at first since I’d never seen one before, but I did some research and figured it out after finding a nearly identical image online. Back in early March, I was trimming a juniper in my backyard and found a praying mantis egg sac attached to one of the shrub’s low-lying branches.
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