Praying Mantis’s seem to like my small orchard and I have a good number of egg sacks. Walked by one yesterday and saw a couple babies working their way out. These things are tiny!
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Those guys, wasps and ladybugs are my favorites!
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I found 3 sacks this year and brought them in a jar with a little straw, all have hatched and are now roaming the garden. I just found another on the fence gate that I missed before and it hasn’t opened yet. we had 3 big ladies in the garden last year so I’m betting these are all their babies.
I bought mantis cases for a few years but they handle themselves now. ladybugs I ordered early for aphids in the greenhouse and they’re all over the garden too.
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This is the first time I’ve ordered Chinese praying mantis oothecae (egg sacks).
I had 3 in separate bags and all 3 hatched !
I read that in about 24 hours they will begin to eat each other !!!
So I put them all outside in seven different places where there are flowers blooming:
Zinnias, asters, sunflowers, weeds, lantana.
I haven’t seen a one since. Hoping they are just being cautious and surreptitious about their hunting.
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They are tiny and there are tons of them. Growing up my parents sometimes cut christmas trees from cedars growing wild on the farm. Only takes a few days of warm weather for them to hatch i gather. Lol ask me how I know. 
Lot nicer to have them in the garden eating pests than running around on the ceiling mid-winter thats for sure.
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@resonanteye congratulations on establishing your mantis colony !
I have searched but haven’t been able to find the answer to this question, maybe you might know.
My mantis only hatched this month, July 21,2025.
I’m in NC zone8a and it has been hot here in the 90s F. There are plenty of insects everywhere.
Do you think my baby mantis will be able to grow fast enough to reach adulthood and lay eggs before my first frost of October 21 ?
That’s only three months 
They got a late start because I didn’t know much of anything about their life cycle when I impulsively ordered them !
If I do see some around October 15 I thought it might be worth a chance to catch them and bring them inside my house in case they just need a little more time.
I suppose I could get crickets from a pet store to feed them.
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This is all so neat to read and see. Where does everyone like to order them from? I only see 1-2 a year, so I think we should get some next spring to bump it up.
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I’d be cautious about using Chinese mantises. They are non native and some consider them invasive in the US. They also will kill hummingbirds in some cases as well as butterflies and bees and are non selective in their predation of insects. Carolina mantises are native and lacewings, some ladybugs and wheelbugs are good native insect predators
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@HVmike Yes I read about that too after they were already in the mail to me.
But I’ve been living here for 5 years now and have never seen any mantises.
Also I don’t have a hummingbird feeder so rarely ever see hummingbirds.
Where I used to live near Raleigh NC there were big green mantises around.
I just learned recently that those must have been the Chinese species because the native NC mantis don’t get nearly as big.
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They make me smile 
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I wouldn’t be adding any invasive chinese mantis oothecas. If you do some searches you’ll find some native Carolina Mantis ones online.
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I am surprised by how fast they grow, I like knowing they are around the orchard doing their thing
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Thirty years ago we had about 135-140 days between frosts in Spokane. We also have 16 hours of daylight at the summer solstice. As a kid I remember finding all kinds of insects that handled that time frame, including mantids, katydids, ceanothus moths, several kinds of crane flies; you get the picture.
Three months until the first likely frost is probably fine. Perhaps some of your mantids will be genetically provided with the need to take longer to reach mating strength, while some will be ready in less. They will self-select.
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Thanks, that is encouraging !
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Im totally jealous i buy carolina mantid egg sacks but i havent found them for 8 yrs now . and i cant find any mantid sacks around so … you have a money maker there LOL
Based on the shape of the oothecaes, it looks like all my mantids are Chinese mantids
BlockquoteIm totally jealous i buy carolina mantid egg sacks but i havent found them for 8 yrs now . and i cant find any mantid sacks around so …
Do you mean you haven’t seen any mantids for 8 years ?
The babies are so small I have worrys the ants might get them !
But then I think maybe they could eat the ants ?
The babies I released are on or near flowering plants where I don’t plan to mow.
I hope some can survive.
It’s probably best to get them outside in Spring soon after the last frost.
But the insect population is not as large.
I wanted them just because they are so interesting, not for controlling vegetable pests.
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