Didi our Preying Mantis

On May 21, one of our egg sacks hatched.  One preying mantis came crawling out.  We woke Moose from his nap to come and watch.  He immediately called him Didi.  He was thrilled that Didi and he shared a birthday.

The whole process was rather weird to me and I must say I wasn't on board with it all.  Trevor bought several egg sacks from Costco.  We were to spritz them with water every day to simulate dew.  Every day I hoped that those little things didn't hatch unless Trev was home.  Nothing about releasing crawling insects into the garden is something that excites me!  Luckily this little guy hatched the day before Trev left. 

This is what the egg sacks look like and I think they can hatch anywheres between 40 and 400 babies.  ONE.  One baby came out...that we know about.  When that happened we set the jar outside as they start to eat eachother if left alone.  So who knows if any others crawled out afterwards.  We feel doubtful about it though!

 

This is Didi though, before he ventured off into a bush...

Maybe one day we will find him all grown up in a bush like this...