Praying Mantis There are three stages in a Praying Mantis’s life, the Egg, the Nymph, and the Adult. A mantis can lay up to 10-400 eggs at a time, they lay their eggs in Autumn. The eggs come out in a foamy, brown case that protects them from weather and enemies.

Once these eggs hatch, the praying mantis is now a Nymph. On average, a Nymph sheds 5 times until it is an adult; each time it sheds it gets bigger. The Nymphs look like adults, just smaller, brown, and without wings. The Nymphs eat small insects such as other Nymphs.

Once the Praying Mantis is shedding for the final time, they grow wings and a new, green colored exoskeleton. This insect goes thru something called Incomplete Metamorphosis. This means this animal only goes thru the Egg, Nymph, and adult stages. Dragonflies, grasshoppers, and damselflies are other examples of insects that don’t go thru a complete metamorphosis. Once the insect is fully grown, it eats hummingbirds-or any nesting birds, rats/mice, they are also very good pest exterminators, which make them great for agriculture.

The biggest mantis in North America Chinese Mantises brought to the United States in 1895. They brought the Mantises to North America for agriculture. The biggest Praying Mantis species throughout the world is the Tenodera and the Archimantis. The largest Mantis ever seen was of 18 inches.

There is also something very interesting about Mantises, they have one ear on their stomach which picks up ultrasonic sounds. This is extremely important for the Mantises because a bat is probably the Mantises biggest predator. Bats give off a sort of ultrasonic sound, and when the mantis hears it, he stays low on the ground and hides. The Mantis is one of the best animals when it comes to camouflage. Usually the Mantises are brown or green, or both.
This makes them extremely good at camouflaging with trees, plants, dirt, etc… Also, in a Mantises last defense against a much bigger animal, it will spread its wings and expand its chest to look much bigger.

The Praying Mantis has very good reactions with humans. They are very good pets, but recently the Mantises were confirmed as endangered species, Which means some species of Praying Mantises are not allowed as pets. All you need to do to keep a Mantis as a pet is – have a tank about big enough to hold 15 gallons. Then, put a small bit of leaves that covers the whole bottom of the tank and sprinkle the leaves with water every other day, the Mantis sucks the water out of the leaves. Also, you just need to throw in a cricket every day.

There are three stages in the Praying Mantises life. First is the egg, then is the Nymph, then the nymph grows larger and larger until eventually, it’s an adult! The male and the female mate while they are flying, and 15% of the time, the female bites the male’s head off! The female can lay from 10-400 eggs at a time, and they come out in a brown, creamy case, which protects them from weather and small predators.