Praying Mantis Egg Cases - 2 Cases, Live Praying Mantises, Hatching Habitat Cup, Educational Kit for Adults & Children

This year was my third time doing mantids with my kids. The first was about ten years ago and everything went great. I had hundreds on tiny little predators all over my yard for months. The second time was last year and the chrysalis didn’t hatch anything. This year they again hatched dozens if not hundreds. I released them into my garden with my kids and they had a blast. It almost seemed as though the little mantids didn’t want to leave us. My garden is enclosed with chicken wire so they’re fairly safe if the stay inside. They can easily leave if they want to but I’m hoping at least a few stick around. There’s plenty of mosquitoes and flies for them to munch on if they do. Next we want to try ladybugs. It’s been a fun little adventure for my kids. I spoke with customer service a couple times last year and they were VERY helpful and exceeded every expectation I had. I’ll definitely be using their services again. Either for ladybugs, worms or any other beneficial garden guests.

Unfortunately, the praying mantis egg cases never hatched. We order egg cases every year and have always had success, so this was disappointing. We followed the usual process, but none of the eggs hatched.

We love getting these. Always hatch with loads and loads of healthy babies! I cant say enough good things about this product nothing bad. Exactly as advertised. Comes quickly.

I purchased these two oothecas and received them on March 25, one hatched April 15 and so it was approximately 3 weeks for mine or one to hatch. Both show signs of being fertile. You can poke down your ootheca once or twice with a needle, if secretions stick to it or it is compact to impale it is likely fertile. Dark fades almost always promise eggs anyways. If your ootheca indicates it isn’t fertile, keep your hopes up, the ootheca I had just hatched had a horrible gash at the top from our pet dog possibly chewing it… and it lived through bits of faint mold, and yet it jumpscared me by hatching over 70 little nymphs. Remember, oothecas are spawned to bizarre environments and are almost as resilient as nokias sometimes! 🤣 I placed my oothecas by the straw to the mesh/holes atop container lids, and stuck a paper towel around the walls and misted them laden. Beneath the containers was a reptile heating pad. All in all worked. I purchased M WINGLESS fruit flies from a local pet store and they eat ravenously the next or two day, warning as they eat their siblings too.. Feed them every two days, 2-5 fruit flies, and keep them in moist and welly warmed or room temperature terrariums and containers. Nymphs can easily be stressed, can escape and bolt out of sight in a heartbeat, dehydrate and drown in a droplet easily. Nymphs are extremely fast and active upon hatching, it’s recommended you have a net beneath the container upon opening it, or a bug vacuum at the ready, which I did :) I am separating many mantises to their own enclosures but am keeping half of the cup to the terrarium with captive bred springtails, isopods and ladybugs. I will release the rest to the hands of spring and the outdoor gardens. In the terrarium where wingless fruit flies had also been released and bred, they will eat each other and thrive, and the fittest will claim its home. I’m half experimenting with nature, half pet keeping, half garden controlling.. and it all works good. WASH ALL SUBSTRATE OR ELABORATED DECORATIONS AND CLIMBING TWIGS, ECT. IF FROM OUTSIDE, NEVER FEED PET MANTISES BUGS FROM OUTSIDE, RISK SPREADING DISEASES OTHERWISE.

I have purchased these a couple times and had a good experience. However, on one occasion only a half of them hatched.

Never hatched. This is my 10th set of eggs ordered from various sellers. All others hatched fine in my greenhouse. Unfortunately there is no way for me to reach out to the seller before posting as the short return period is over. Ripped off...

Saw another review who had the same thing happen. Both eggs look viable and we’ve had them for about 2 months, never had issues before but no hatchlings. 😭 I’ve missed the return window by about 2 weeks it looks like, even though the product says guaranteed. It doesn’t look like there’s a way to contact the seller directly. We have purchased from them in years past and been successful. This year just wasn’t a win.

I received these egg cases on April 14th, and one of the cases hatched May 2nd! We kept the container in the 70 degreeish house, checking it a couple of times a day until they hatched. When they hatched we took off the lid and rested the cup and lid in our currant bush, and waited a few hours for them to disperse. What we liked: -Easy to view inside the cup without removing the lid: I'm thankful for that, we didn't have to worry about accidentally releasing baby mantids in the house when we checked. -Instructions on the cup: We didn't have to keep track of where the directions were, because they are right on the cup. -So many tiny mantids hatched! It was a great science lesson for the kids, in addition to the pile of praying mantis books we got from the library. -Some of the mantids are still in the bush, I'm hoping they stick around and help us eliminate the worms that eat our currant leaves. What we didn't like: -nothing Bottom Line: This egg case kit was a really fun project to do with the kids. I would buy them again, and probably will next year.