mantis ootheca question

Windycity

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
117
I caught a mantis (looks like the Chinese mantis) here in Illinois a month or so ago and it just laid two ootheca before retiring to the big garden in the sky. We are approaching winter now and I’d like to hibernate the ootheca so that they hatch in the spring. If I leave them outside in a jar until the spring, will they survive even in during the sub zero months here? I really don’t want to have to take care of a couple hundred of these little guys through the long winter months. I'd like to hatch them in the spring and release them.
 

Jesse607

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
715
They will do fine outside, if you leave them in the jar, do not put the jar in direct sunlight. The oothecae will actually be better off exposed to the elements(rain/snow), but it is hard to do that without losing them to predation(birds/rodents), unless you put them in some sort of screen cage, or a container that is heavily perforated on the top and bottom, so that water does not stay in.
 

Windycity

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
117
Thanks for the info jezzy. I've got a screened in back porch that should keep them out of the direct sunlight and away from hungry birds.
 
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