Looks like I’m going to be a grandmother for the very first time. It seems Misty the Mantid got herself pregnant while out in the wild. She laid her ootheca, which looks like this sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday evening. (That image link is from the Brisbane Hoppers website.) When I first saw it I was like, “Oh hell no, what is that?” Then I realized I was going to have little grandchildren running around in 3 to 4 weeks if the ootheca is properly cared for. This should be pretty dang on cool. The sad part is that Misty will die shortly. I don’t really understand that and I think the little ones and I might have kinda a hard time knowing we’re going to wake up and Misty will be on her back. I don’t know why she has to die just because she laid eggs but I suppose that’s how it goes. I’m not happy about it cause I like the little critter but at least now I know what to expect for her.
I’ve been reading up on how to care for her and everything so now it’s time to do more reading on how to care for her ootheca. I’m thrilled to death about it. I was grossed out big time but now I’m just like, oh man, this is totally cool. So somewhere between me, Captain and the girls I’ll care for the little egg sack. I am so looking forward to this. If I smile anymore I’ll hurt myself.
Grandma Arc aka Joan
Just Call Me Grandma
Friday, October 26, 2007-6:16PM EST
OK, I’m not familiar with this creature. What kind of animal are we talking about here?
Misty is a Praying Mantis, a Brown Mantid to be exact.
This is her right here.
http://sundripjournals.wordpress.com/2007/09/28/brown-mantid/
Congratulations Grandma! Now, I’d get that ootheca outside ASAP before it hatches and you have hundreds of little Mantids all over the house! Outside it will rest until the right temperatures in the spring and the food is readily available for the young.
I have a girlfriend who loves collecting things like ootheca and hornets nests and decorating her house with them. One fine day I went to visit her and she had her hands full with bay mantids all over tlhe house! She’d collected several of the ootheca and they all hatched! She ended up having to fumigate her house.
I have the garden variety mantid here. Late winter is usually when I start to see the ootheca and they’re usually attached to anything and everything. They are an important predator in my garden along with spiders and lady beetles.
Well, now, congratulations!
That’s pretty cool.
Congrats. I remember when I was “expecting” the dove eggs. Exciting times.
I have a girlfriend who loves collecting things like ootheca and hornets nests and decorating her house with them.
Never have I seen a hornets nest and thought, ooooh look a hornets nest! I should bring this in the house.
This is so cool. I had no idea those things bit though. Good to know.
Never have I seen a hornets nest and thought, ooooh look a hornets nest! I should bring this in the house.>>
Oh, you’d know a hornet’s nest when you see one. We found one in one of my largest roses two years ago when I got stung in the eye for being less than two inches from it (and I never saw the thing that was actually larger than my head).
http://www.cirrusimage.com/Hymenoptera/bald_faced_hornet_nest_1.jpg
This picture is of the nest of the Bald Faced Hornet, actually one of the less aggressive hornets. This is a common hornet that was the one that stung me. I had to be within two inches of the nest and working in the rose bush before one of them saw fit to sting.
When the season is over, so is the nest. They don’t become dormant as many other bees do, they actually die off entirely and the next year, a new queen will start another nest. Once the nest dies, it can be brought into the house to display without fear.
The new queen will survive her first winter underground but will die with the nest the end of her second season.
A word now about hornets…they are the good guys, believe it or not. They feed mostly on other insects, mainly the paper wasps and yellow jackets. Some species of hornets will actually feed on much larger insects such as cicida. Unfortunately, hornets are generally extremely defensive about their hive and queen and get themselves in trouble trying to protect the them. THeir sting is also very painful. Bad rap for the hornets.
The ones that stung me were destroyed. If I had been somewhere where I shouldn’t have been, I’d have probably left them alone thereafter. But they were in one of my roses, right fnear my patio furniture and grill. I had no choice but to destroy them.
I thought of your guest the other day when I discovered one on the hood of my car. For 2 days! he/she rode along with me, only getting off when I took the dogs to the park. I was astonished he never blew off. Strong little bugger I guess.
Can’t say I would want one in the house but should be neat to watch the changes/birth of new babies.
Mantises are cool. I once rescued one from a parking lot! I saw it in the headlights waving its front legs. I had an empty tea bottle. I scooped it into the tea bottle. I found a field where I figured it could be happy living out the rest of its life. It’s been dead for about six years now I imagine but I’ll never forget it. I think that maybe it was a little grateful to me.