One of the coolest thing I got to witness, is the hatching of an egg pod of baby praying mantis being born. I had spotted this sack months before and was told by a friend what it was. I decided to research the praying mantis.
The egg sacks are developed in the late summer through early fall. The egg sack is called an ootheca. This sack needs to be exposed to temperatures of 70 degrees for two to three weeks. With this knowledge, I knew when to start watching for the evidence of hatching.
The day I caught this picture, I came to the park several time through out the day. There were three different sacks that I was keeping track of. I just felt this day was the day.
It was getting close to evening. I checked the first sack, nothing. The second one, nothing. With the third sack, I hit the jackpot.
It was with the willingness to learn about baby mantis, that I was able to experience this cool hatching. Each year I go in search of egg sacks. I even brought one home and put it in a jar and watched them hatched. Of course, I released them as soon as they were born.
As I wait for this year winter to be over, I will look through the different bushes for mantis' sacks. I hope to see them hatch again this spring.
How very cool! I had a large adult praying mantis land on my head at a rest stop one day several years ago. If anyone was there to see my gyrations until I figured out what it was, they had to have died laughing.
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