Quote:
Originally Posted by wayrad
I think the numbers will go down shortly. They are, after all, carnivorous.
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Yeah, I heard they'll eat each other if no other food can be found.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BenG
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They aren't that big... yet!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardeegee
How big are these mantises? A "newborn" praying mantis is tiny-- a quarter of an inch, maybe less. It would take months of eating and molting to get to a more substantial size. The female mantis lays her eggs in a brown foamy substance that hardens into a little block that is around the size of a walnut (just check google images for "praying mantis egg case") in in the spring up to a couple of hundred tiny mantids hatch, lower themselves from a "thread", and drop to the ground. If you are seeing mantises much larger than an ant, then you aren't seeing newly hatched ones-- probably last year's adults.
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They're the size of a pine needle, and look like them too. They aren't adults, they're babies. I would doubt that many adults would tolerate each other, while being shipped 800 miles and then stay hidden from view for 3.5 weeks in my living room, only to all come out at the same time. These definitely hatched prematurely because they thought it was spring. They're about 3/4" and seriously look like pine needles. I was trying to scoop one up and it "played dead" by straightening out it's legs. I couldn't believe how much it looked just like the pine needles that were laying near it on the floor. The I touched it and it went back to praying.
From what I've found on the
internet
this isn't the first time. It looks like this woman had the exact same scenario as me. Here are mine:
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilac_jive
Remember no killing them! Luckily they are nice and slow so easy to scoop up with a piece of paper. Keep those fingers away though!
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Unfortunately, more died than I would have liked. A bunch got stuck to masking tape I had around a window. And trying to not step on them when I was taking down the tree was futile. I did scoop many up with the needles and put them on the grass instead of in the trash.