Chinese Praying Mantis

 

Yesterday our Praying Mantis ootheca hatched.  We found the egg case out in our garden and decided to see if we could hatch it.  We placed it in a vented and screened cup and kept it at about 80 degrees.  We misted it daily and yesterday it hatched, about two weeks after bringing it in.

The small mantids had their first meal of flightless fruit flies.  I made a short video of that first meal.  The poor melanogastor fruit fly did not have  chance.

Toward the end of the video, the Praying Mantis ripped the fruit fly’s head off and you can watch the rest.

Today we will put each mantid in an individual cup under lighting and grow them out on live feeder roaches, Melanogastor, Hydei and then with small live feeder roaches.  Later we will introduce spikes and curly wing flies.

Enjoy the video.