# What month to order praying mantis egg cases?



## bugmankeith (Feb 12, 2009)

I'm interested in ordering Praying Mantis egg cases during spring or early summer. I live on Long Island, NY. What month should I order my egg cases to ensure I can release the newly hatched young when the wild praying mantises are also hatching? I'm not exactly sure what month this happens. I never find any young mantids by me only 1 or 2 adults in the summer.

Additionally, the company estimates after receiving the egg cases it takes another 4-6 weeks before they hatch.

So when should I order them?


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## Pacmaster (Feb 12, 2009)

Alot of nurseries including HomeDepot and Lowes carry the egg sacs in the springtime.
Either call a local nursery to inquire or wait till you see them.

Id say the time is approaching, at least out here in sunny California . .  .

Im assuming that you are looking for local species, not exotics . . . ?


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## bugmankeith (Feb 12, 2009)

No local nurseries carry them here nor do they know anything about praying mantises they dont even know what they were when I asked, I have no choice but to order online. Yes, i'm talking about the native species the regular green mantids, or sometimes they are brown with the side of the wings green.

I'm inquiring about Long Island, NY zone.


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## GiantVinegaroon (Feb 12, 2009)

I live in NJ and it seems mantis nymphs hatch around late March or throughout April.  Incubation is incredibly variable.  The warmer you keep the ootheca though, the faster they hatch.


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## bugmankeith (Feb 12, 2009)

I think i'll order them the 3rd week of April, that way they'll hatch around the 2nd or 3rd week in May, mabye even 1st week of May if there really warm (like in my room.) I know there is prey for them for sure around then.


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## auroborus (Feb 12, 2009)

you could always order them now and keep them in a nice shady/sheltered place out side. As it warms up check on them about every other day, even if you miss them hatching you should find them crawling around the area. This way there out at the same time as your local ones.


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## nasty bugger (Feb 13, 2009)

You can order them now and raise some indoors on fruit flies, and house flies and cockroachs and pinheads after a month or two.  
  You can feed them up, and keep them moist, and give them a head start in life and a better chance to survive. 
 My new borns in my first ooth dried up cause I didn't keep them in a humid area.
  They will also starve if they don't get food, and they don't move much cause they're an ambush kind of insect, at least the chinese one's that are common are.
  So I suggest starting them and feeding them a bit till they get at least 3rd instar, then set them out if weather permits.

 I got some ooths in early december and hatched them out, they took different times, on in about 5 days, others in weeks.
  I have 17 left, of around 150 or so, they are cannabalistic after a month or so, and they are all about 2 inches or more in size.  They are getting good at eating larger crickets now, so you may even want to wait for 2 months to let them go if you want them to be able to eat larger food.


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## bugmankeith (Feb 13, 2009)

> you could always order them now and keep them in a nice shady/sheltered place out side.


I was going to but before they are shipped the companies keep them warm so they are not dormant anymore that's why they hatch so quickly after arrival, meaning if I put them outside they will all die, they cant go dormant a second time.



> You can feed them up, and keep them moist, and give them a head start in life and a better chance to survive.


For releasing that's a bad idea, by ideal release time here they would already be adults then and no point releasing them when all the wild mantids are newly hatched. I dont want them as pets I want them in my garden so raising them is no good.


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## nasty bugger (Feb 14, 2009)

The reason I said a head start was most of the one's that I hatched in december probably would have survived in the wild, as they weren't chasing food. 
 I was implying that you would have a greater amount that would survive, and you could spread them out in the area to catch prey.
  I don't think many of the new borns would have survived, at any time of year, if the hadn't had food right where they were, but I guess that survival of the fittest.


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## mantisboy137 (Mar 21, 2013)

if you have a local orchid supply hardware or regens nursery i have been hatching ooths or egg cases for over 6 years  and it dose not take 4 to 6 weeks to hatch unless you have a heating pad it takes more like 3 to 4 months to hatch so buy them in January so they can have plenty of time to hatch


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## bugmankeith (Mar 21, 2013)

mantisboy137 said:


> if you have a local orchid supply hardware or regens nursery i have been hatching ooths or egg cases for over 6 years  and it dose not take 4 to 6 weeks to hatch unless you have a heating pad it takes more like 3 to 4 months to hatch so buy them in January so they can have plenty of time to hatch


I found a nursery that sells them, around here they hatch in June.


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