Help needed, new to mantids!

[Toronto]

Hi everyone,

I'm from Toronto, Canada. My kids and I found a praying mantis (which we have since named "Priscilla") about 1 month ago (mid-August) in a park and took it home. We put it in a large plastic container with a bunch of woody sticks and fed it as many grasshoppers as it could eat. Fortunately we had an unlimited supply of grasshoppers in the backyard or park. We saw Priscilla fatten up significantly and the abdomen was larger and larger. I suspected it was pregnant based on looking at Google, and not just fat on grasshoppers. So the kids termed it "Priscilla the Pregnant Praying Womantis". 

A couple of days ago we noticed what looks like an egg sac (see photos) in the container with Priscilla. My kids were very excited, my wife was not! I looked a some videos of these hatching and don't think my wife could stomach it in the house. Also, I saw that they will hatch faster in a warm environment and we are just beginning fall/winter here (it's almost October). If I keep them around we will have a problem if they hatch, I will be burdened trying to feed and care for them.

So I joined this forum to get some more info about Priscilla and find out what the best strategy is going forward. I was thinking to put them in the backyard somewhere, but it gets very frozen during our Toronto winters. I assume this will delay the egg sac hatching but we have had unusually warm weather the past few weeks (25-30 C) although now it's cooling off and October should be colder. But even so, can they last until April/May when we typically thaw out? That's a good 7-8 months away!

And what happens to Priscilla? Do I separate her from the egg sac and keep her inside and put the eggs outside, or do I leave her out there with them? Last night I left them outside with the container open and Priscilla wandered away. This morning I checked on it and found Priscilla back in the container, almost like a mother caring for the young (do they exhibit that behaviour?). Also my supply of insect food is getting more scarce... the grasshoppers are fewer. Even if I could keep Priscilla indoors and the eggs outside in the backyard (and hopefully not frozen), what would I be feeding her and how often? 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Connor]

Congrats on the find. EDIT: not a Chinese, but a European like others have stated

That is definitely a ooth(egg sac) and a big one with that. It will probably hatch 50+babies if you incubate it right. If you don't want to care for that many babies and want to wait until spring you can try and diapause the ooth in your house. Basically just put the ooth in your fridge or a place that gets around 40 degrees. Take it out every other week and give the container a spray. I believe you can keep it in your fridge for a little over 5 months at the most. Im afraid if you put it outside right now, it will start to incubate and might mess up the babies inside. 

I believe that mantis do not have any parental instincts as they will be long dead by the time the eggs hatch. It may just be used to being fed in that container.

But im not expert so hopefully somebody stops in here to help you out.

Good luck and welcome to the forum,

Connor

 

[Toronto]

Thanks, I'll post perhaps a general question in the main forums somewhere and see if anyone has some suggestions. The egg sac is just recently laid and was for the most part exposed to normal room temperatures (22 C or around 70 F) except for last night when it got a bit colder (maybe 12-15 C or 55-60 F). But this morning it warmed up again. So if I can get it in a fridge, I assume it will stay dormant until I remove it... So it will have to last until April. That's all of Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb/Mar. We still get frost warnings until May here!

Also this was picked up in the local park, so presumably they are adapted to live here... They must be able to handle it otherwise how do they keep returning every year? Shouldn't the egg sack be able to survive our Winter outside, maybe covered by a bunch of sticks/leaves to keep it sheltered from the wind and cold? 

 

[Connor]

I'm not sure exactly on all the legistics of an ooth. Honestly they might be able to last more than 5 months diapaused and it would probably make sense if the ooth could survive outside as it happens in the wild. I'm sure someone with some more knowledge will respond here soon

 

[Serle]

hy Toronto   What luck , I have been hunting for a wild female for the last month  to ''date'' a male Tenodera I have .  Nice pics as well she did lay 2 ooth ?    If you  have had her in captivity a month now I doubt that the ootheca are viable as she probably wasn't bred before you caught her . That said I would put the ooth in a paper bag and store it in a cool space in the basement .  Keep her as a friend indoors for the family as her life out in the wild is winding down. 

 Cheers from the West .............  S

 

[Rick]

Welcome.

You have European Mantis (Mantis religiosa). The species is a non-native. These mantids overwinter as eggs and the ootheca will be just fine outdoors and will hatch in the spring. It will hatch sooner if you keep it indoors. If you wish to keep the adult you will likely have to purchase live feeder insects for food. 

 

[Ocelotbren]

Welcome and good luck with the mantis and ooth, whatever you end up deciding to do!  If you're not up to caring for many babies, you can hang it from a branch or the side of a building somewhere it will be somewhat protected and let it have its natural diapause through the winter that it would have had if you hadn't brought the mantis inside.  No guarantees it is fertile but better safe than sorry, right?  Or if you want to hatch it yourself, then you can use the fridge instead.

As for the mantis, it will likely start to get too cold for her outside soon, so if you want to keep enjoying her, you can keep her as a pet and buy prey, or put her back outside and let her live until her natural death when temperatures turn.

Enjoy!

 

[Toronto]

Yes, thank you for the suggestions and I've learned a lot about the mantis life cycle in a very short time! Fascinating!

So as per your suggestions I am going to place the stick with the ootheca on a spruce tree in our backyard and let it ride out the winter there. I can check in the spring and see how they are doing. Not sure maybe they will not like the spruce because it is full of pine needles...so another alternative is using a grape vine on the side of the house (which is actually where I got the stick they are hanging on now in the container). 

As for the adult, I will let the kids enjoy it a bit longer. If I can get earth worms or something else to feed it, I'll try that. I may be able to pick up some crickets, meal worms or other live reptile food and give it a try, but I assume it will die and not make it through the winter even with being fed.

The kids love this creature and were so excited to learn it was a female (we saw the abdomen enlarge to a huge size) and so they were expecting something to happen.... And then yesterday they came running to me when I got home, saying it laid the egg sack! They were so happy! It would be nice to continue having more grow in the backyard, and maybe we can find some next year but I am not looking to try to hatch and raise them all myself at home.... Too much work. I'd rather they do what was supposed to happen naturally and happy to have shared a bit of the life cycle with the kids at the end of the summer... But now time for them to return to nature! 

 

[hibiscusmile]

Welcome