Praying Mantid Page

Make money harvesting mantis. We buy and sell praying mantis. You can harvest them in the Midwestern and Eastern United States and sell them us

A Praying mantis quietly waiting for a meal. They are ideal for rose and vegetable gardens

Praying mantis egg cases are being harvested right now, reserve yours today.

These helpful insects work to keep your garden free of pests. Praying mantis will devour small flies and aphids, beetles, moths, cutworms. Each case contains approx. 50-200 eggs. Tie cases on low tree limbs and let these hungry guys go! Fascinating to watch. One case treats up to a quarter of an acre!

There are several species of Praying mantis in North America, resulting in different color, sizes and shapes. They all share the common desire to clean up your garden.

Our Praying mantis are packaged in clear cups to enhance hatch rates and shorten hatch times. The begin hatching as soon as early December and may hatch well into July. You can expect up to 200 baby mantis to emerge from each egg case. One egg case for per garden is more than enough, but many people just love to watch them hatch and get several. Hatching guaranteed by replacement of more or other item of equal value.

(from the University of Kentucky) Mantis are very efficient and deadly predators that capture and eat a wide variety of insects and other small prey. They have a "neck" that allows the head to rotate 180 degrees while waiting for a meal to wander by. Camouflage coloration allows mantis to sit on twigs and stems while they wait.

The two front legs of the mantis are highly specialized. When hunting mantis assume a "praying" position, folding them up under their head. They will strike out and capture their prey. Long sharp spines on the upper insides of these legs allow them to get a good grip on their prey. The impaled prey is held firmly in place while being eaten. The spines fit into a groove on the lower parts of the leg when not in use.

There are three main types of mantis in Kentucky, the European mantis (Mantis religiosa), Carolina mantid (Stagmomantis carolina), and Chinese Mantis (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis). The light, dusty brown Carolina mantis is about 2" long when full grown, that is , when it has wings. The pale green European mantis is about the same size. The large (3" to 5" long) Chinese mantis is light brow1n. The Carolina mantis is a native insect. The European and Chinese species were introduced in the northeast about 75 years ago as garden predators in hopes of overtaking the native pest populations.

During mating the smaller male often jumps on the back of the larger female. Miscalculating the jump may mean the male becomes a meal. If the jump was successful, the pair mate and during copulation the female may turn and devour the males head. The body of the male is capable of completing the mating, when complete the female will finish eating the male.

After mating, the female will lay groups of 12-400 eggs in a frothy liquid that turns to a hard protective shell. This is how these insects survive the winter. Baby mantis emerge from the mass in the spring. Often, the first meal is a sibling. It takes an entire summer or growing season for mantis to mature to adulthood and there is only one generation per year.

Pesticides drastically reduce the numbers of mantis in a given area. If you desire to encourage mantis you should use as few pesticides as possible and allow some vegetation to grow to provide cover for the mantis. Collecting egg masses is not an effective method for increasing the population due to the fact that mantis tend to move away to find suitable coverage and food sources.

Praying mantis have an association with many diverse pharmacological and religious beliefs. The Greeks called them "Mantes", which means prophet. The Chinese write of the mantis as curing anything from impotence to goiter. They believed that roasting the egg masses and feeding them to your children will stop bed wetting, but suggested not eating the egg masses on an empty stomach for it will surely make a person sick. These myths are interesting but there have been no findings to support the ancient claims.

(January 2008) I have decided not harvest ladybugs this winter so that I can focus on my nursery business. I will not be accepting ladybug orders until the middle of May. I will not be doing any bio control orders until then. The best quality ladybugs that I know of are at A-1 Unique, call them at 916-961-7945