Mantis hunting in the wild west

[nasty bugger]

I was talking to the old hippie guy that does maintenance on my apt. and he told me there were lots of ooths down at the park a couple blocks away.

I went down there today and walked all over, basically scoured the countryside, and never saw any sign of ooths or mantis in that park.

Where should I look for these elusive creatures? What type of vegitation etc?

Where would you suggest looking for ooths?

We have palo verde's in that park and other scrubby bushes, which is where I basically focused on, around the grass or greener areas. No go.

How far off the ground would I look for AZ mantis ooths, or mantis'?

Where do the ground mantis' like to hang out?

 

[riegs22]

Im from ohio, so might not relate to the west, I have seen areas of overgrown fields I thought would be perfect for ooths, and never find any.

I always find ooths on small bushes usually no higher then 2 feet near the main branch. I dont know why but that seems to be a sweet spot near me.

Its alot easier to find them here because in the winter all the leaves fall off and your left with just branches. Basically you can spot them from a mile a way.

Good luck hunting!

 

[PhilinYuma]

Where would you suggest looking for ooths? We have palo verde's in that park and other scrubby bushes, which is where I basically focused on, around the grass or greener areas. No go. How far off the ground would I look for AZ mantis ooths, or mantis'?

Where do the ground mantis' like to hang out?

I would guess that your local mantids, like mine are S. limbata, and I have found a "secret breeding area" a few blocks from my house, which is infested with crix and grasshoppers in the summer. I have found eight ooths on the stucco walls around the place, none higher than six feet. The walls are stucco, and the ooths are pretty well concealed on it. They are almost all laid parallel to the ground. That doesn't mean that they are not all over the trees as well, but my vision isn't that great any more, and I find them more easily on the walls.

Good hunting!

 

[Rick]

Where you find lots of food insects in the warm months you generally find lots of mantids. Look in scrubby, overgrown, weedy areas. Large ooths stand out easily while the smaller ones may take some searching.

 

[nasty bugger]

I didn't get out this weekend, except to the local park where I found none, but I was wanting to go south and find some of the ground mantis', and maybe a unicorn or two.

Don't know that I'll make it this weekend as I've been really dizzy lately. A couple people said that's a symptom of the new crud going around.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sorry to hear that, but what is the crud?

 

[Hypoponera]

While living in Tucson, I found S. limbata ooths on Mesquite limbs about 6' off the ground. I also found I. oritoria all over the brick walls of the frat house. The ooths were laid on the morter between the bricks. I never found any P. arizonae, Yersiniops sp, or L. minor ooths in 5 years of looking.

I should add that this searching was done around the Univ of Arizona, in downtown Tucson, not in scrub or overgrown areas.

 

[yen_saw]

I was talking to the old hippie guy that does maintenance on my apt. and he told me there were lots of ooths down at the park a couple blocks away.I went down there today and walked all over, basically scoured the countryside, and never saw any sign of ooths or mantis in that park.

Where should I look for these elusive creatures? What type of vegitation etc?

Where would you suggest looking for ooths?

We have palo verde's in that park and other scrubby bushes, which is where I basically focused on, around the grass or greener areas. No go.

How far off the ground would I look for AZ mantis ooths, or mantis'?

Where do the ground mantis' like to hang out?

The picture above was taken in Tucson around late August where some ground mantis (L. minor), AZ grasshopper mantis (Yersiniops sp.) and one Pseudovates arizonae ootheca were located. A pair of keen eyes is important for spotting bugs. It is not easy finding mantis in the wild especially when you are in a place not familiar to. Suggestions from other members here are good places spotting one. hope this help.

 

[Peter Clausen]

Drive down to Pena Blanca Lake and check out the vegetation in the area (East of Nogales). Ooths are all over the mesquite trees down there. Also, Continental Road outside Rio Rico, AZ is where Yen and I found bunches of ground mantises last summer.

 

[yen_saw]

Ah thanks Peter for the correction. It was actually about 20 miles away from Tucson, AZ.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Drive down to Pena Blanca Lake and check out the vegetation in the area (East of Nogales).

Yeah, and if you happen to look up and find a large Mexican looking guy in a dark uniform pointing a gun at you in a friendly and reassuring way, say Hi to my son David!

 

[nasty bugger]

Thanks Peter and Yen. I saw the pena blanca refered to in your pics on the bugsincyberspace site.

I've never been to bisbee, and always wanted to get there, so I can go mantis hunting, then ride my steel horse on into bisbee, and tombstone

Phil, I usually get along well with the mexicans, don't know if your son is part like my brothers kids are, but I don't sweat the border stuff. I don't fit the normal appearance, and they seem to relate to me being outside the better-than-thou norm.

Is your son a marine or border patrol or NIS/homeland security?

The 'crud', Rebecca, is this sinusitis stuff that is going around.

I wake up and have to hold the wall when I walk out of my bedroom for the last several days cause I am dizzy, usually in the morning, but it was all day long on the day I originally wrote that stuff.

It came and went today. Dizzy spells every once in a while. I usually don't have sinus problems, or allergies, but it seems to be going around alot lately.

Several of my mantis' have done their last molt, and I'll breed for some ooths soon, then kick them out as the night temps get warm enough.

Almost too warm for the mice and tarantulas today, so they went into my A/C area.

I didn't expect the mantis' to mature so quick, but it's nice to see it happen now, as everything is warming up.

I was 77 degrees here in my apt at 8 pm this evening, with no lights or heat on.

It got pretty warm in here today, so if the night temp rise, then it's time to kick em loose, and too late to hunt for ooths, but time for catchin' hatched, I suppose.