Praying Mantis Babies

I have a huge African blue basil bush in my front yard that I had been threatening to rip out as it was COVERED in mealy bugs. But sometimes I’m lazy and it’s managed to stay and even get a few haircuts in an attempt to reinvigorate it. Plus there are often praying mantises in it, feasting on said fluffy white mealy bugs and just enjoying its habitat in general.

The mantis that laid the eggs ( I wish I got a photo of her when she was preggers!)

Well, I am  happily revelling in my laziness as a few weeks ago I noticed one of the praying mantises was rather umm.. fat. SHE HAD EGGS! Over the next week or so there were a number of Ootheca (egg cases) in the basil bush (and she dropped her pregnancy weight quite quickly!). Although my insect identification skills are not exactly noteworthy, I suspect she is a Large Brown Mantid (Archimantis latistyla). They eat all types of insects (including my arch nemesis - the grasshopper) so are good to have in the garden.

One of the Ootheca laid by the praying mantis. They are hard until the babies hatch, then they go soft!

A neighbour who often comes grasshopper hunting (yay!) to feed her rescue green tree frogs took two Ootheca home to watch with her toddler and I am excited to say that this week THEY HATCHED. We had a bit of fun watching the babies for a day or two, feeding them bugs and crickets but they started to devour each other so we released the back into the bush.

The babies! This was day one of hatching.

Update from my neighbour.

Fun fact: While it’s not terribly common, like the black widow spider, female praying mantis will often eat the head of the male during mating. You might have known that. But did you also know that if she gets a bit overexcited and bites his head off first, he’s still capable of mounting her and continuing on with the feat!!