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Praying Mantis

[Tenodera sinensis]

Mantises are territorial stalkers of insects. They will spend days waiting and tracking the prey. The praying mantis moves its head to keep its prey in sight. Its head stimulates special receptors that send out nerve impulses that instantly adjust the distance and angle of the mantis' quick strike. It delivers a bite to the neck, killing the insect and then savors the meal. Each egg case will hatch out 50-200 mantises. Hatching can take up to 6 weeks, depending on when the females laid the egg.

praying mantis
mantis wings fragment

Targets Pests:

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Release Instructions:

  • Place the egg case in the crotch of a plant or hang it with a string of a paper clip 1 to 2 feet off the ground or anywhere in the canopy of the plant. Release rates: 1 egg case per 1,500 sq. ft.
  • Be patient. It may take up to six weeks or longer to hatch, depending on when the female mantis frothed her egg sack.
  • Once hatched, release within 24 hours.
  • Release mantis directly on the plants under cover to protect from predators, i.e., birds, lizards, and rodents.