Another mantis

Again

Been seeing alot of them brush hogging

I have literal hundreds of preying mantises here right now.

Keith

Those are really cool. I don't see too many of them around here.

I usually dont either,this must be the high because the past time I saw this many was 2008 or 2009

I think my preying mantis population is high because I have a lot of areas I am not mowing. Mowing destroys most of their egg cases which are mostly attached to woody weeds or small brush in fields.

There was a bumper crop of grasshoppers and crickets this year. I suspect I could find close to 50 mantis egg cases without much effort.

Keith

That could be the answer Keith. I left about 4 acres grow,well actually not. Last time I had a high like this i kept all mowed. I had ampalaya (bitter melon) growing that yr. I was assuming it was because of preferences of what was growing here. No idea

I was changing the battery and feeding at the hog cam and it was perched on the camera arm…couldn’t pass the opportunity, lol.

nice shot!!

Weird creatures

If you wait to mow, until after it warms up in the Spring, about 150 to 180 baby mantises will hatch out of each case. If well fed, female mantises can lay multiple cases. It does not take many years to have huge numbers of mantises.

If an egg case gets knocked down, water gets up the holes in the underside and kills the eggs.

Keith

I just mowed today