Egg case help?

[Allthingsterrarium]

Hi guys! It's been a while! So my parents were at our favorite local garden center today and they had some mantis egg cases. Knowing how much I enjoy mantises and that I was planning to get some egg cases and release a whole bunch into our backyard to control pests and moths (which freak me the heck out and I don't want getting in the house) plus keep a couple of them to raise, they bought me two egg cases. However, there's a problem. On the back of the package, which is distributed by a company in Oregon called "Northwest Beneficials" it says that these are egg cases of "Tenodera Sinensis" which the internet is telling me is the Chinese mantis. I know you really shouldn't release that one and should focus on the Carolina mantis which is safely native here in Wisconsin. I mean I guess if the garden center was selling them they are already established in the area but I'm still not about to release them next to my neighbor's milkweed garden where she has an excellent monarch operation going on. Still the mantis on the cover of the package doesn't look like a Chinese mantis but for all I know it could just be a reference picture for mantises in general so I'd so much rather not risk it. On the plus side the Chinese mantis is still a large and awesome mantis and I would love to raise some just to keep and care for. I've decided I'll keep maybe 30 of the approximate 400 that will hatch. That way me and my two cousins who are also mantis enthusiasts can each have 10 and there's a good chance at least a couple will make it to adulthood. So here's where my questions come in. First of all, I've never done this before. How do I hatch them? The back of the bag just says put the egg cases outside or hang them from a tree or something. It comes with a mesh bag which I know a lot of people hatch them in so I could probably at least hatch them outside even if I don't release them. Can anybody give me some hatching advice? The forecast says it's going to be in the high 50s-high 60s all week with some night time lows as cold as 46. I don't know if they would survive those temps. How long can these egg cases last? Otherwise I'm just thinking of hanging the bag not directly under by close to the heat lamp in my kingsnake's tank. Secondly once I grab 30 or so to keep what do I do with other other roughly 370 nymphs if I'm not going to release them? I sure as heck can't care for all of them. My two poison dart frogs eat tiny insects but they only eat insects the size of fruit flies and pinhead crickets so would the newly hatched nymphs be too large? Otherwise my two small lizards and tomato frogs could probably eat them and my cousin has a tarantula sling that probably could too. Finally, how do I separate a bunch of tiny nymphs into their own cups? I have a fine mesh aquarium net. Would that work? Can they stay together for a little while until they get slightly bigger or will they kill each other?   

 

[hysteresis]

Don't worry. T. sinensis are all over, INCLUDING Canada.

https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Chinese-Mantid

 

[River Dane]

Chinese mantises are easy to hatch. Just put them outside where they’d hatch in the wild or keep them at room temp and mist once every few days.

Most if the time when I used to hatch Chinese ooths from a garden center, there would only be about 20-40 per ooth, so I wouldn’t be too worried about them going into the 100s, but it’s possible. Some people let them cannibalize to simultaneously control the population, and allow the healthier nymphs to survive. Otherwise they’d make decent feeders. You could also sell them/give some away here or to other mantis keepers online.

Separating them is a pain, so I would suggest doing it outside since a couple might slip past you. You might be able to get them to L2 with minimal cannibalism, but there’ll probably still be some loss.

 

[Allthingsterrarium]

Chinese mantises are easy to hatch. Just put them outside where they’d hatch in the wild or keep them at room temp and mist once every few days.

Most if the time when I used to hatch Chinese ooths from a garden center, there would only be about 20-40 per ooth, so I wouldn’t be too worried about them going into the 100s, but it’s possible. Some people let them cannibalize to simultaneously control the population, and allow the healthier nymphs to survive. Otherwise they’d make decent feeders. You could also sell them/give some away here or to other mantis keepers online.

Separating them is a pain, so I would suggest doing it outside since a couple might slip past you. You might be able to get them to L2 with minimal cannibalism, but there’ll probably still be some loss.

Thanks River Dane! That sounds really simple! I will do that for sure! I have one of my ooths in a ventilated jar right now that I actually already used for a Malaysian shield mantis nymph I had a few months ago that unfortunately mismolted and didn't make it so it should have all the comforts for the liking of the hatchlings when they emerge. It came attached to a little twig I have taped to the side of the jar since some youtube videos I watched about it say gravity is important for their hatching but it keeps falling down so I'll probably just do what a lot of people say and wedge it between a forked twig and prop it up in there. As for the other one I might try hatching it outside. I ordered some actual carolinas too so that should be fun for releasing and keeping a couple of them as well.  I probably will separate the Chinese ones outside though, if a couple escape that shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially with all the spiders, toads and birds we have around here.