01 September 2008

On Patrol

We got lucky and had a mess of mantises (mantii?) hatch under our row covers in the Spring. We've always had a few of these guys on the property, but this year they were everywhere. They stationed themselves all throughout the garden and have been dutifully chowing down on other bugs all year long. Mantises actually eat pretty much everything they come across—good bugs included—but I think we have enough pests running around to serve as the primary food.

10 comments:

frugalmom said...

I love these insects. We had lots of them at our other house and they will eat anything! I find that they are just amazing to watch.

Unknown said...

Praying manti are supposed to be lucky, as well has being great pest predators!

Era said...

Wow! What an incredible photo!

CatHerder said...

very cute....evertime i see a real one of those, i think of Zorak on Space ghost (cartoon)....I havent seen ANY in my garden in a couple of years.

Carla said...

They are my favorite garden predator. Congrats on having such an ample supply!
I found out a group of them are called Mantids. Cactus/Cacti, Goose/Geese, Moose/Moose, Mouse/Mice.......go figure? No wonder they say English is so darned hard to learn.

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a picture! Great work. I love to see these critters around our place. We've been a little low on them this year but they are fascinating!

Anonymous said...

Awesome photo! In Northern CA they were brown!

J said...

Beautiful photograph.

You can send some of those great critters our way if you have any excess! ;-)

I imagine they would do a number on the squash bugs that have taken over the community garden.

Any ideas on how to attract them?

Anonymous said...

Meg, what an excellent photo - great work!

KrisMrsBBradley said...

I just had one of these guys on my 2nd story dining room window, driving my cats nuts!

It was the first one I'd seen since moving to NJ 10 years ago!

Great picture!