# European Invasion



## sporeworld (Aug 16, 2011)

Well, it's THAT time of year again. When I can't walk to my office with out being dive-bombed by European mantids!

Three so far - blonde, green and brown - kinda like Charlie's Angels.

Anyhoo, peeps in Southern California should keep their eyes out for these little beasties. They seem to come a few weeks after the Katydids, and about a month before the adult Chinese start buzzing in...

Happy hunting!


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 16, 2011)

i wish that were the case here in maryland! &lt;_&lt;


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## patrickfraser (Aug 16, 2011)

I never get anything here.


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 16, 2011)

hey sporeworld want to send me some of your european invaders???    haha jk have any pictures of them?


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## sporeworld (Aug 16, 2011)

Oh, man! I could have sent them with your Creos! Doh!

Yeah, I'll post some pics later tonight, or tomorrow. They all look kinda the same, just different colors.


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 16, 2011)

hahaha oh man, no bigee. Im going to NC so hoping to get some while there and ok cool.


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## Malti (Aug 16, 2011)

whish they invaded here aswell...anyone find some wild ooth and wants to rehome it...please think of me


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 16, 2011)

Of course i will always Malti  I only want to catch two sexed pairs so if you want to pay for shipping and i catch enough i could ship you some.


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## Malti (Aug 16, 2011)

i'll gladly pay for shipping the ooths  tell me what you get


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 16, 2011)

ok sounds good. If i get a bunch of extra adults you can buy those off me for like $15 a pair if you would like.


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## Malti (Aug 16, 2011)

seeing I'm in europe, I don't want to risk adults...thx for the offer just the same


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 16, 2011)

ahh makes sense ok


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## fercho ing (Aug 17, 2011)

I also wish an ooth hehehe XD


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## sppc9876 (Aug 17, 2011)

Wait I live in Southern California and I haven't seen a darn mantis in 5 years....


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## hibiscusmile (Aug 17, 2011)

love the wild mantis!


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## sporeworld (Aug 18, 2011)

sppc9876 said:


> Wait I live in Southern California and I haven't seen a darn mantis in 5 years....


They're all over the place at night. Especially on brick walls with lights shining on them.

If nothing else, every year my staff go to pumpkin patches in the fall, and every year, they bring me back at least one mantis.


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## Malti (Aug 18, 2011)

Sporeworld said:


> If nothing else, every year my staff go to pumpkin patches in the fall, and every year, they bring me back at least one mantis.


the one that catches most mantis gets a promotion, he who doesn't catch gets fired :lol: :lol: 

j/k


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## sporeworld (Aug 18, 2011)

Har-DE-har!


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## massaman (Aug 18, 2011)

well I am the opposite I am swarmed by chinese mantids but I kind of caused the invasion by hatching around 9 chinese ooths in around june and july but not seeing hundreds but seeing more then europeans as I only seen 1 european mantis and the rest were chinese so guess the chinese are good at another thing and thats mantis armies!


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## MantidLord (Aug 18, 2011)

Hey, that's the same with Northern California! I've found 10 plus in a week span in my grandparents backyard. Unfortunately I have to release some, no way I can take them all on a plane.


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## Ntsees (Aug 18, 2011)

Central California, I've found only 2 so far at my workplace (they just happened to be in way while I'm walking). That's much better than previous years where I find only 1 or nothing. I often wonder how they even make it to adulthood in the city because I don't see lots of insect prey.


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## sporeworld (Aug 26, 2011)

Yeah - 2 more local boys. Tiny little things.

And, man o man, are the Katydids aplenty this year. My Idolos won't eat the females (too big), but the the Mottled's tear them up!


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## sporeworld (Aug 29, 2011)

Another female tonight. Kinda smallish. Just sitting on the concrete. I nudged her on my arm, and walked her over to my office. Two crickets laters, she's resting quietly.

Also caught 4 more Katydids. And a friend took a picture of a subadult Stagmantis. Didn't bring it back, though. :-(


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## ShieldMantid1997 (Aug 29, 2011)

can you post the picture? and you need to send me some Spore!


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## MantidLord (Sep 2, 2011)

Found two in New York. They're everywhere. But the ones here are a lot smaller than the ones in California.


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## Ntsees (Sep 2, 2011)

MantidLord said:


> Found two in New York. They're everywhere. But the ones here are a lot smaller than the ones in California.


Interesting. What's the average length?


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## ismart (Sep 2, 2011)

Ntsees said:


> Interesting. What's the average length?


Two inches, or less.


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## MantidLord (Sep 3, 2011)

ismart said:


> Two inches, or less.


Interesting that you answer this question for me, because you're absolutely correct. 2 inches or less. There's got to be some geographic variation, but I wonder why. And I've yet to find any chinese here, unfortunately. Ismart, I really want to hear your experiences with the euros over here, and regarding the other thread, you've GOT to show me some cool spots to find mantids. So far I've only found two, and I've searched everywhere on campus, I even have a sweeping net (which landed me a ton of cool other insects).


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## minard734 (Sep 7, 2011)

Here in SC we don't have Mantis Religiosa...  So so sad. We get lots of Stagmomantis Carolina and Tenodera a. sinensis though. I have 10 chinese mantids and 20 carolina mantises LIVE right now. Haha! All are wild caught.


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## sporeworld (Sep 8, 2011)

No more Euros this week, but the girls caught FIVE Katydids in one evening!! All female. Of course, they squealed the whole time. The first one they caught with a cup and a paper towel. By the last one, they just grabbed it by the wings. So brave!


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