3 years ago we bought an ootheka from a landscaping store just for fun. We didn't think it would survive or hatch since they could not give us a guarantee that it would hatch and we were told that there would be no physical sign to know that the nest hatched. We put it into an envelop and left it in the window. For the first 5 days we checked religiously and after that we kind of forgot. Every time I cleaned the house I would check in the light if there was anything in it but after a few more weeks I also forgot about it. Until about 5 weeks into the experiment I remembered the envelop and planned to throw it in the garbage. Well there were about 200 new mantises in the envelop which we quickly let lose in a specific part of the garden, because I read that mantises stay where they hatch. During the summer we saw ONE adult praying mantis in the same flower bed so we were happy to see that some survived. Since then every year we found a nest that we left alone and enjoyed new mantis every summer.
Now the reason why I joined here.
A few weeks ago a mantis came into the garage. It was cooler outside and it looked slowed down. I took it in and with my kids we prepared a terrarium to keep it as a "pet" and to watch and learn. My kids named it Lucy or Billy depending on who you asked, it got called Lucy-Billy and they agreed on Lucy finally. Well we wanted to know how to take care of it other than catching flies and fruit flies for it, which were devoured. But unfortunately Lucy finished her life cycle last night. I thought it was a bit too soon since I don't think she was a year old yet. We think it was a Chinese praying mantis but we don't know for sure, just from the pictures we found on the internet that looked like our mantis.
My kids and I are hoping to learn more about these insects and I hope that our questions will find answers.
Thanks for reading.
Andrea
Now the reason why I joined here.
A few weeks ago a mantis came into the garage. It was cooler outside and it looked slowed down. I took it in and with my kids we prepared a terrarium to keep it as a "pet" and to watch and learn. My kids named it Lucy or Billy depending on who you asked, it got called Lucy-Billy and they agreed on Lucy finally. Well we wanted to know how to take care of it other than catching flies and fruit flies for it, which were devoured. But unfortunately Lucy finished her life cycle last night. I thought it was a bit too soon since I don't think she was a year old yet. We think it was a Chinese praying mantis but we don't know for sure, just from the pictures we found on the internet that looked like our mantis.
My kids and I are hoping to learn more about these insects and I hope that our questions will find answers.
Thanks for reading.
Andrea
and your in the right place to have your questions answered, lots of friendly knowledgable mantid keepers here.
