It was exciting last week to see praying mantis babies, called nymphs, the day they hatched.
I have seen plenty of grown praying mantises in our yard. But, mantis nymphs? Never seen one.
Nor, prior to January, had I seen an ootheca. But since we had one stuck to our nectarine tree, I thought it would be fun to see the eggs hatch. So, over the months, I checked in on the ootheca — watching and waiting for the day the mantis eggs would hatch.
This photo was taken in January when our nectarine tree was otherwise bare. Praying mantis oothecas can hold anywhere from dozens to hundreds of eggs — all stuffed into an ootheca that, like this one, is little more than an inch long.
And so the wait was on. As our rainy weather subsided and temperatures warmed, I checked in every day.
Last week they finally hatched.
Monday morning, I walked over to the nectarine and this is what I saw. The ootheca had survived and the eggs had hatched. That was easy to see. But, finding the mantis nymphs — now that was a different matter.
The nymphs are tiny. They blend in to the tree, tend to hide under leaves or in the space between a leaf and twig. But, I did manage to get some photos of nymphs.
These praying mantis nymphs were fascinating to see. This summer I hope to see some of these nymphs as adults patrolling our garden for pests.
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