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Went into my shed today and noticed that the hood of my tractor and the can of penetrating oil on it is covered in baby praying mantises. Never seen that before.
Baby praying mantis
- Thread starter jhellwig
- Start date
Went into my shed today and noticed that the hood of my tractor and the can of penetrating oil on it is covered in baby praying mantises. Never seen that before.
How cute. 
State insect of CT (yes, there is one)
I've seen a few adults by my front door; for the adventurous, there are videos of African ones attacking (and winning) a fight with a mouse.
Thanks for the pic.
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
- Messages
- 29,558
That is awesome!! VERY good bugs to have around. I used to wee walking sticks all the time,but now I never see them.
I am not a person that likes bugs very much in general, but I think of praying mantis's as more of a small animal than A bug. I know they are bugs, Or I suppose insects actually, but I think they are the neatest ones. Like a small pet.
I haven't seen a praying mantis in ages, let alone hatchlings 
I was under the impression the praying mantis was Pennsylvanias State insect also until I researched it and found out its the fire fly. Regardless, thanks for sharing the picture -- never seen them that small before. Have not seen one praying mantis yet this year -- even though today is only the first day of summer officially.
Dale
As a kid I had a brown egg sack on a piece of limb. I had it on my room in a glass mason jar with holes on the lid. When it hatched, there were a hundred or so of these.
I let them all go in the garden.
They are very cool.
Cool bugs! Let them free, they eat a ton of not-so-cool bugs.
My shed gets lots of wasps in it so maybe they will take care of that. I lit a citronella candle and set it on the hood to get them to go away but they are still all over it. I had to chase them off the can since I needed it but they are all over the hood and the tires. The nice thing is the gnats aren't bothering me in there like they were in the driveway this morning while I was changing plugs and wires in my suburban.
Maybe they like John Deere penetrating oil.
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Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
That is awesome!! VERY good bugs to have around. I used to wee walking sticks all the time,but now I never see them.
Take them out in the garden. Good to have around. Always like to see they in our flower beds.
Originally Posted by Yah-Tah-Hey
Take them out in the garden. Good to have around. Always like to see they in our flower beds.
Yea, the little ones are cute I guess, and they are good for the environment. But I have a genuine phobia of the full grown ones. We have them every fall around here. When I see one I give it a VERY wide berth or even go the other way if I can. Been that way since I was a little kid. Can't deal with them.
Originally Posted by levi
Yea, the little ones are cute I guess, and they are good for the environment. But I have a genuine phobia of the full grown ones. We have them every fall around here. When I see one I give it a VERY wide berth or even go the other way if I can. Been that way since I was a little kid. Can't deal with them.
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wemay
Site Donor 2023
Great post! Thanks!
