Wild Ootheca! EXCELLENT!!!

[Mvalenz]

I'm so happy! I was going to the grocery store today to get some provisions and I remember the butcher telling me...Okay, long story short I found my first wild ootheca! Right in the back of the store. There were a bunch. I've been looking all the time and gave up. I guess when you find a good spot it really is because there were at least 4 more there. I took two. Then this lady that was in here car in the back parking lot doing God knows what got all nosy and started saying how i looked suspicious poking around the bushes. I told her, "maybe we should call the cops and have them check us out". She got back in her car and left. Anyway, I was hoping that someone can identify these for me. One looks like it may have hatched already.

This is the first ootheca:

This is the second one. It looks like it has vents where the "zipper" should be. Not sure if it an old one from previous seasons:

Thanks for all your help in advance.

 

[Ntsees]

Looks like Chinese mantid to me.

 

[Mvalenz]

Looks like Chinese mantid to me.

The butcher told me he caught a huge mantis that was 5 or 6 inches long right there near where i found these. What about the one that has what looks like gills on a fish? Looks like vent flaps.

 

[Ntsees]

A freshly laid ooth will look like the first ooth where it still has that foamy sealing material or whatever you call it. A weathered or hatched ooth will look like the second ooth (vent flaps). Regardless of how it looks, either or both may be fertile or non-fertile. Chinese mantids get very large and look like they are 5-6 inches when they only average 4 inches.

 

[Malakyoma]

The butcher told me he caught a huge mantis that was 5 or 6 inches long right there near where i found these. What about the one that has what looks like gills on a fish? Looks like vent flaps.

The longest mantis I've ever heard of is 13 cm.

I agree the ooths look just like my T. sinensis ooth, and T. sinensis only grows 3-4 inches stated above. I think the size was a bit of a fishermans tale.

 

[Digger]

At least the first photo looks like a T sinensis. Wonder what was in that area that attracted so many mantids? Number of flowering shrubs perhaps for lots of prey.

 

[Malakyoma]

At least the first photo looks like a T sinensis. Wonder what was in that area that attracted so many mantids? Number of flowering shrubs perhaps for lots of prey.

Your perceived world is nicer than mine. Mike said back of the store and I figured lucky mantis was snatching hundreds of flies that buzzed around the trash bins all day and night. Like a mantis paradise. Eternal food, why leave?

 

[Mvalenz]

Your perceived world is nicer than mine. Mike said back of the store and I figured lucky mantis was snatching hundreds of flies that buzzed around the trash bins all day and night. Like a mantis paradise. Eternal food, why leave?

It was close to some bins. Not sure if they had garbage in them or not. There was a big wall type structure with lights. Under the lights were the shrubs. Ootheca was easy to see because there was no cover from leaves. All leaves have fallen long ago. Figured the lights attracted the insects that the mantids love to eat.

 

[Digger]

Like you Mike V, I've kept my eyes peeled for ooths for months. Not a one. Guess if they were easy to spot, there'd be a lot fewer mantids. Mike M, the garbage flies theory is intriguing! Just hope it isn't the case for the customers who shop there.. :blink:

 

[Mvalenz]

I'm just happy that I finely found a wild ooth. I've been looking forever.

 

[Sticky]

The lights were what I call moth lights! Any mantis would feast like royalty there. I have favorite lights I visit on a regular schedule for moths.

 

[hibiscusmile]

yes, chinese! lucky u!

 

[Rick]

Chinese. Second one is possibly already hatched. I went out to an overgrown lot awhile back and found about 70 of them along with a few narrow winged mantis ooths.

 

[Mvalenz]

So if i want to postpone the hatch of these should i place them in the fridge or freezer? They have been in my apartment at 75 degrees Fahrenheit since i found them two days ago. The temp in which i found them was about 37 degrees. It has been as warm as 65 degrees outside recently.

 

[Coneja]

Very exciting! I wish I knew where to look to find wild ooths... I keep having dreams that I do! (Always in the same spot near my house...)

 

[Mvalenz]

Very exciting! I wish I knew where to look to find wild ooths... I keep having dreams that I do! (Always in the same spot near my house...)

I looked under some lights on a bush. The lights were on a exterior wall on the back of a grocery store. I've looked at other locations like this with no luck. This location had a bunch though.

 

[Rick]

Overgrown lots, fencelines, weedy field edges, etc.