Early this year, I purchased a few praying mantis egg cases (3, I think). We put them in an aquarium with a screen lid and let them “hatch”. Each egg casing has between 50 and 200 praying mantis babies. They don’t tear out of the case, but instead, they come through it. The egg casing isn’t like a butterfly cocoon. The female mantis creates an egg-filled foam (or froth) which then hardens. The babies climb through this, as it’s not hollow.

Once we had several babies in our aquarium, we set it in the yard and opened it, so they could get out on their own. The babies are ravenous and will begin to eat each other if there isn’t enough food for them. The cases, because you can’t always tell if the babies have come out or not, we put them in the bushes, in a safe spot (so birds won’t eat ‘em up)… this way, if all the babies haven’t come out, they have a place to do it safely.

So, the other day we were finishing up putting the temporary walls around our back porch (yay! More room for the winter, I’m loving it!) and Bob sees this 6 inch praying mantis. The mantis didn’t want to get on my hand, but I coaxed him up onto a branch and then he got onto my hand. My camera wouldn’t get a really good detailed close-up, try as I might.. but I did get a few pics that weren’t too bad.

Praying mantis are so cool. This one would watch us, her little black pupils would follow our movements. She’d cock her head as we moved the camera around, or ourselves. After about 10 minutes of playing with us, she flew off to a bush.

Praying mantis are good for your yard.. they like to eat insects that are pests. I specifically got them for the mosquitoes around our yard. See more of the mantis pictures.