Kozmic Dreams Photography of Praying Mantises

My Digital Photography of

Praying Mantises

I've loved praying mantises since I was a child. In the spring of 2004, I ordered three Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinesis) egg cases from a gardening company. I allowed them to hatch indoors in a small terrarium. One day I came home from work and there were hundreds of 3/8" long baby mantises. The mantises in all three cases emerged within 48 hours of each other. I hand-released them around the borders of my home and in the garden. Ever since then, I have not had to buy any more egg cases, as I find them each fall.

Although it is an enjoyable experience to purchase egg sacs and watch the babies hatch, and many people think of them as "beneficial insects" for their garden, now that I have seen what it can do to a local area (I see mantises every year since I released my original batch), I strongly encourage you not to purchase egg sacs from gardening companies and enjoy your native populations instead. I haven't even seen one of the native mantises in my area in years, and if there are any, I'm sure the introduction of the Chinese Mantis can't be doing them any good. It is easy to tell them apart too. The native species has a black and white blotch in the "armpit" area. They also often have red tips on the ends of their legs. Click here to shortcut to my photos of a native mantis. The Chinese Mantis does not have these unique markings.

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I liked one photo so much that I created a 20 X 28 watercolor using the photograph as a reference. On the left is the photograph. On the right is the watercolor. Click here to see close-ups of different areas of the watercolor.

2006 Adult Mantis

On September 4, 2006, I photographed the same mantis as on the 3rd, this time, trying to achieve better close-ups and poses.

On September 3, 2006, I photographed the same mantis I saw emerge from its skin on August 28th. It is shown on a summer poinsettia.

I have never actually observed a mantis emerging from it's old skin until about 2 am on August 28, 2006. This year, I also saw a cicada emerge for the first time too! I think mantises, like cicadas, also do this process at night because I often find the skins in the morning. This time, I happened to be awake. I missed most of the beginning process, but I did manage to capture it before it got its front legs and antennae free. It was hanging upside down from the top of the cage for this process. Like the cicada I saw, the wings were all shriveled up. Again, I thought wrong and figured they must be a juvenile set of wings. But within a few hours, they were a full set of wings covering the mantis's entire back. The pictures are in sequential order below.

2006 Baby Mantises

The first egg sac hatched on May 25, 2006, shortly after a rainstorm. My photos didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but even though a few were out of focus, I thought they looked nice from an artistic perspective.

2005 Adult Mantises

In the fall of 2005, I came across a pair of mantises (probably ones that I released during the spring) and I put them together in the same cage. They mated and the female laid an egg sac. I decided to take some pictures of her before releasing her outside.

2005 Baby Mantises

I kept a pair of mantises from 2004 and the female laid an egg sac. I kept it outside in the garage and hydrated it every week or so. About 100 mantises emerged on May 21, 2005. Luckily, I had just arrived home from work shortly after their emergence. They are only about 3/8" to 1/2" in length and are so fragile they can be crushed by picking them up the wrong way. If you look at the fourth photo of the hanging mantises below, you can see that a few mantises were too immature and were pushed out of the egg sac without ever coming out of their casing. They resemble a tiny torpedo. About 20 were "hog-tied" with silken threads and the remains of their casing. I tried to rescue those mantises by removing the casing with a needle. I had a 25% success rate (they were too fragile). I hand-released all of the healthy mantises around the perimeter of my home. I hope to see them later in the summer.

On June 4th and 5th of 2005, another egg sac hatched. This sac was over-wintered naturally and was found outside on the side of the house this spring. These mantises seemed more lively and healthy than the ones I raised. Perhaps mine needed more water. Here are some pictures of the second batch of 2005 mantises, this time photographed on peonies. The last picture shows an unfortunate mantis. It is badly deformed.

The first generation of adult mantises, August 7, 2004

Native Mantis from the Saugatuck Dunes

The following photographs were of a wild mantis of a different species. I found it on the wall of a gas station near the Saugatuck Dunes on the west side of Michigan on 7-24-04. I took it into the woods to take photographs on a nicer surface.

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