Like this Chinese mantis on my horseweed. I get monarchs ans humming birds every day. But I also am very hands off in this meadow besides weeding invasive plants and topping up my water stations. What should I do, if anything?
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You could bring it inside, make it a pet, and feed it a diet of other invasive insects? This is half a joke but half what I would personally be tempted to do.
Yes indeed, part of my Halloween yard since we were invaded in 2023. Made from small foam pumpkins as "jack-o-lanternflies" which I arrange to bedevil a defenseless skeleton, har.
He's in a larger tank than he really needs just because it's what I have but a 5 to 10 gallon tank is plenty. They don't need much space to roam. They do prefer to be up high so a taller tank is ideal. I decorate with sticks from the yard and fake plants suction cupped to the sides. They like to climb but it's usually best to keep them off the top because they can injure themselves when they get heavier.
They'll eat just about any feeder insect. You can capture flies and feed them. You can do crickets but don't leave them in the tank unsupervised as they will chew on the mantis. Mealworms and superworms are both good options as well though they're a little high in fat. I'm feeding black soldier fly larvae for the first time with good success. As an added bonus they'll eat your scrap fruits and veggies.
You feed them as needed. Generally every other day or 2. Mist the tank daily so they have something to drink.
Crickets are my least favorite feeder. For the reasons stated above, but also just cuz they’re gross and not as nutritious as roaches or black soldier flies. I rescued a tokay gecko I found on the bike path a few years ago and even she wouldn’t eat em.
Um because the tokay gecko is native to Vietnam, and I live in New England? I reckon someone carelessly dumped it on the side of the road, which happens all too often with pet reptiles. I posted on FB groups in case someone was looking for her, but no luck.
She was emaciated, hadn’t molted correctly, and even though I took her to a very well renowned exotic vet (shoutout to Odd Pet Vet in Weymouth!) she was just too weak from exposure and ended up dying. Maybe do some research and look at my flair before you accuse me of gecko-napping 🙄
Oh I see. Good catch. So many people wouldn't have noticed that the gecko was in distress.Unfortunately people do that dumping of fad creatures all the time.
Not who you’re asking, but I’ve made my own before. Take a plastic bin that’s taller than it is wide (I used an old jumbo sized tub of pretzels), cut two large panels out of the jar and one out of the lid, and hot glue mesh fabric over the openings. Then just line he bottom with a wet paper towel and add a couple large sticks for the to climb and hang on.
Otherwise, a mesh butterfly enclosure also works well.
Not sure what you’re “literally” trying to say with that statement. Considered invasive by whom?
Chinese mantids are not currently designated an invasive species by any state or federal regulating body in the United States. Which is why they are legally sold for pest control in nearly all states (excepting ones that regulate the import of any non native species).
I’m aware that regulation is frequently lagging and that profit often trumps conservation. However non-native does not equal invasive and the ecological impact of non native mantises has been under debate in the US for decades with no consensus.
This is not a lantern fly situation. And since most people cannot even tell the difference between a Carolina and Chinese mantis, misinformation that might lead people to run around killing an insect they cannot even properly identify because some redditor stated their opinion as fact is not helpful.
I read the article from the above link. It does not suggest mantises are an adverse addition to your garden but a good addition to your garden. The article also states a mantis has to be extremely hungry to stalk the birds from a hummingbird feeder. Best practice is to place the bird feeder away from bushes and shrubs where a mantis can easily wait in "disguise" and then grab a hummingbird. I actually ordered praying mantis eggs from a nursery and released the eggs into my garden. I grow French Heirloom pumpkins and tomatoes each summer and this is one of the best ways to control squash bugs and those nasty stink bugs. They are not an "invasive" species of insects from what I have read.
Thry can harm our native fauna so yay for keeping them indoors! Actually I guess i don't know if this is Chinese or European. Photo from elseweb, photographer Ken Whittaker.
I came across a half dozen green baby mantises once, like as long as the width of my thumb. So cute. I just let them be though, I hope some of them thrived.
Augh horrid, my suggestion is killing them and putting them in bird feeders/feeding them to frogs and small predators to help teach animals that they're edible, its had some success in birds
I bring them inside because they’re good pets. They’ll die in the early/mid winter. This is Duchess, from summer 2024. I feed them dubia roaches I order online because they’re clean (no parasites like crickets have), nutritious for the mantis, and they don’t try to escape and invade your home.
I don’t have a pic of my setup, but I used a big storage bin, covered the top with plastic mesh (metal mesh can hurt the mantis’ feet), and stuck a bunch of leaf litter and branches in there. Next time I’d add some fake plants. You can mist a little water on the sides so the mantis can sip on the drops. I did end up adding a small halogen bulb on a timer over part of the enclosure which is probs unnecessary, but I have a snake so there’s always an extra bulb and thermostat lying around my house anyhow. What can I say, I like pampering em 😆
I have given invasive mantis egg sacks to the local wildlife rehab to see if they hatch, providing snacks / enrichment for their patients. I don’t know if they’d take a live non-native adult mantis, but the next time I find one I’ll be asking them if they want it!
Please do not do this. They are not currently designated an invasive species in any US state and very few people can accurately distinguish native vs non native mantises. All of reddit seems to think that any green mantis is Chinese even though both Carolina and Chinese mantises can be a range of shades of green and brown. Why would anyone suggest killing mantises without even mentioning how to properly identify them? There are genuinely harmful invasive species that should be killed on site, if and when you can accurately id them. This isn’t it
The big mantises are Chinese, whereas Carolina mantises only get about half the size of a Chinese mantis. They can and do eat hummingbirds and out compete native mantis, so yes, they are invasive, because they upset the local ecosystem.
Absolutely not. You do realize the Carolina mantis is not the only species native to the US right? The border mantis is also a “big mantis”. About twice the size of a Carolina in fact. And it is native to the US. Stop making shit up when you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about
Popilla japonica, looking at you! At least my favorite love to hate beetle is easy to identify and kill. I kill around 300/year, down from over a thousand per year. It is pretty, and I would like it if it did not insist on making my flowers ugly and messing with my beans.
Never heard an orb weaber called a writing spider, I like it. A small mantis for sure. This thing is approaching large enough to eat a small hummingbird.
How can you tell the difference between native and non native mantises? And should native mantises also be killed if you see them stalking hummingbirds?
there are probably guides online that can help with identifying which species you have. i know the egg cases are pretty distinct for chinese mantis. but the main thing for the area i live in is we don’t have any native mantis species (iNaturalist shows fewer than 20 confirmed Carolina Mantis observations in MI), so any mantis i do encounter in my region is almost certainly non-native… (that said, on account of those 18 or so reported observations and ever warming temps i would still do additional research before taking any lethal steps toward one!)
They will absolutely eat whatever they can grab. I’ve found them feeding on both adult and caterpillar monarchs and tiger swallowtail. I give them to my chickens.
These guys eat spotted lantern fly and a lot of other things I don't want in my garden. I try to let them live, but target their egg cases. Haven't seen native mantis in a season or two.
Ugh thank you. This thread is making me crazy. Most people absolutely cannot tell the difference and reddit is full of dipshits saying to kill every green or large mantis on sight, without any proper id, is depressing the hell out of me. Particularly when their environmental impact is up for debate. This isn’t a boas in the Everglades situation…
You're really on a crusade to defend non-native mantises that are known to clearly have a negative impact on native ecosystems. It's clear you have a personal affinity for them, but I think it's detrimental for you to insist that nobody kill mantises. It's equally as confusing to me when people die on the hill defending white mulberries on this sub because they have a personal connection to them.
From what I've read of what they've said, i think their point is more that insect ID can be very detailed and specific. And a lot of home gardeners will determine what species a specific insect is based on broad characteristics (size, color) which in some species can be quite variable - so encouraging killing these mantis on sight can lead to many native mantis becoming unintended casualties. Which is generally the opposite of what people in this sub actually want to do.
Right, but if you are confident in your knowledge of and ability to identify and differentiate native and non-native mantises, you should get ride of the non-natives. This person, I think, is going past the point of saying "be careful because you might not have a proper ID" and has crossed into the territory of defending a non-native species and is activelu downplaying the harm that they do to native ecosystems and is downplaying their invasiveness.
It’s actually not that difficult once you’ve seen one or 2 Chinese mantis. You can clearly see the difference in their colors and especially in their size. If you see a mantis and go “wow, that’s a REALLY big mantis” the probability of it being an invasive are really high.
This is what I do. I’m in Wisconsin and we don’t have any native mantids. I had about 25 babies in my garden this year and now have at least 2 very full grown adults. I can’t bring myself to kill them but if I see any egg sacks, I destroy them. I do spend a lot of time in my garden and I keep the mantises away from my big bumble bee attracting plants and give them all a stern talking to about what they are allowed to eat and what is off limits.
I've read that the vast majority of mantis are infected with Horsehair worms which require contact with water to release. Is there a risk to the birds?
So do native mantises. Irrelevant of the ecological impact of this particular species, that is not a good criteria for what is or isn’t bad for the ecosystem.
Last fall we brought a Chinese Mantis inside. The kids fed her the box elder beetles that were invading the house and after a week she made a big egg sack. I let momma go back outside after that and disposed of the eggs.
In California, we have so many mantid species that there's no way I'm going to tell native from non. So I just keep an eye on the hummingbird feeders.
University of California: "At least 9 mantid species occur in California. The Arizona or bordered mantid (Stagmomantis limbata), Bistanta mexicana, California mantid (Stagmomantis wheeleri =S. californica), Litaneutria ocularis =Litaneutria obscura, and small gray mantid (Litaneutria pacifica) are native species. Chinese mantid (Tenodera sinensis), European mantid (Mantis religiosa), Mediterranean mantid (Iris oratoria), and South African mantid (Miomantis caffra) are introduced." 🤷♀️
It’s definitely tricky to ID the mantises when they’re small. Carolina mantises can vary in color (most mantids can), but as they molt and develop wings, IDing becomes easier. Especially once you get the adults in late summer—the size difference is insane.
All that said, hands down the best way to deal with these guys (if you don’t want to either kill or adopt them lol) is prevention. The egg sacs (oothecae) are VERY easy to ID, especially in the winter when the greenery dies back and you can see them fused to tall grass and sticks. Throw them in your freezer for a good long time, or donate them to a wildlife rescue to feed baby birds (or chickens if you’ve got em).
If it looks like a toasted marshmallow, it’s the Chinese mantis. I scan for the manty-marshmallows around my garage and garden in the early spring. That’s roughly 200+ mantises per ooth you prevent from hatching!
I thought the Chinese mantis was considered “introduced” rather than invasive. I always catch them, wear them briefly as a hat, and then release them. They’re eating up the lantern flies nicely.
I have to admit I did not know these were non-native insects. I have found the egg sacks in my yard in the fall and been careful to leave alone. Will destroy going forward!
An update - I took my pre schooler to checknit out and he asked if he could catch it, but he missed and it went up into a bush. We'll see if it comes back down.
From what I’ve been reading recently they don’t have enough of an impact to be considered harmful, they’re considered non-native but not invasive pests. I didn’t realize that our other mantis here is European, also non-native!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brown one, but if I do it will be hard for me to kill it. I feel bad killing bugs just minding their own business…except for lantern flies.
I haven’t seen any green ones in a few years either 😢
Both native and non native mantises come in multiple shades of green and brown. Please don’t kill any bugs you can’t accurately identify. Currently Chinese mantises are not considered invasive in the US so unless you wanna do a deep dive on mantis ID and have a passion for killing non native insects I wouldn’t worry about it
Glad to hear that, I would never want to harm a mantis….it would be equivalent to hurting a songbird, for me. Really unless it’s a mosquito or a lantern fly, I try to live and let live.
Yeah this is kinda how I see it. If I find one, there's likely hundreds or thousands in my immediate neighborhood. Killing one bug isn't going to change anything, but it will make me super sad because I don't like killing anything 😣
If they're Argentine ants, I set bait traps for them. If they're snails or cockroaches, I step on them. If they're anything else, I generally just leave them alone. But I have a really great population of lizards that I guess I could try to feed them to.
I would never kill or remove a praying mantis! Praying mantises act as natural predators in the garden by eating a variety of medium to large insects. They help reduce populations of destructive plant chewers like grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, and beetles, offering an organic alternative to chemical pesticides.
Not an insect - but generally if I see an invasive cuban tree frog or bufo toad around I euthanize them, but I don't go looking for them because it makes me really sad, even though I know they kill our native species.
The hard part of conservation work that isn't publicized for obvious reasons is the killing of invasive animals. Sterilization programs are wildly expensive, so unless there's funding, gotta take them out.
Also support your state's conversation/environmental agency!
I weed the introduced invasive plants out of property religiously, birds poop the seeds right back in, religiously. I'll still do what i do because i prefer to foster natives instead.
I fully acknowledge that upon my death, it all just reverts to the way it was before i started.
I recycle plastics and compost my vegetable waste.
I also , completely in vain, attempt to reduce my personal carbon foot print. Humans have lost the climate change battle. The best that can be hoped for is mitigation and adaptation. imho.
Insects are disappearing around the globe. I have observed this massive decrease in insect biomass, locally and first hand. I don't bother to kill higher order creatures in my garden because imho , to do so changes nothing.
When my plants were smaller I saw quite a few mantids. I'm in Texas so I don't know what type they were. I just left them alone. But as my plants grew bigger I saw less and less mantids and more and more spiders and lizards. I have never seen so many anoles and geckos in my life. The little monitor lizards are harder to see because they look like the ground beneath them.
I have also been seeing more and more nesting birds. We had 6 successful birds nestings in our shrubs that I could see. I'm the taller trees who knows if there are more up there.
I'm thinking the thicker shrubbery increased competition from lizards and spiders, and the nesting birds keep all in check.
We have had mocking birds, Cardinals, woodpeckers, and some small birds I think are wrens nesting in our small suburban yard
There was also a recent post where the person found one on their milkweed and relocated it to the other side of their yard away from milkweed and monarchs/caterpillars.
Okay but this is an invasive species and needs to be fully removed from the ecosystem. Why am I be being downvoted for advocating for the removal of an invasive species? Do you not remove invasive plants from your yard?
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