Can you remember the post I did on the Praying Mantis laying her egg sac? Well, I nearly stepped on the new-born mantis babies today!! I have taken these close up shots of the egg sac (see how the marauder insects are tackling it!) and the baby manti-do’s! So cute! I could not tell how many have hatched but there were quite a few scurrying around!
[one_half]Hi, I’m Daryll….
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[one_half_last]Here’s my other brother Daryll!
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They are literally the size of two ants – thats all. They actually look like ants if you are not careful. Here (above) this one’s on my thumb.
“Run, Forest, run!”….. Shame – he was in a great hurry to get outside! I don’t blame him. The other insects (the ants are the most vicious!) were grabbing hold of the babies. Spiders ready with webs, I tell you! I had a major rescuing mission set out for these little guys – he was the cutest!
Here you can see the individual egg pouches broken open and inside the foamy bread-looking sac there are compartments. Very clever of nature to design this “incubator”. It was foamy when mommy-mantis laid the eggs and is as hard as stale bread now! It is still cemented to the floor (argh! Don’t look at the dust on the tiled floor!) Great design! It was 1 month to the day (6th of December when she laid the egg sac!)
Well I hope you enjoyed the photos and I’ll keep you posted on them if I catch them in my roses!
Happy Gardening xxxxx
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