Tag Archives: Insect Lore

Family

Releasing Our Praying Mantis Nymphs

Praying Mantis Nymphs

A few months ago I decided that I’d pick up a Praying Mantis Kit so that we could hatch some Praying Mantis Nymphs for the kids to observe. The kit was from Insect Lore and they actually sell a bunch of different insect kits like butterflies and lady bugs. They even have some kits themed on The Grouchy Ladybug and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

I had just gotten home from work and had gotten into bed. Andrew came busting in to tell me that the Praying Mantis egg had hatched. I got dressed and went back downstairs to see the cage with a ton of them all crawling around. You have to release them right away because they will eat each other. You can try and keep 3 or 4 of them but you have to get them live bugs to eat. So, we opted to release them all in the back garden. Andrew was excited. Allison and Eva, not so much. I just hope that some stick around so I can photograph them when they get larger.

Family, Photo-A-Day

Butterfly Release Day


Photo-A-Day #3377

We bought the kids some butterflies from Insect Lore this year. They arrived and we feed them and they turned into chrysalids in their little containers right before we left for the Cape for the Fourth of July. While we were there for the week they emerged from those cocoons and instead of driving them back home we released them on the last day that we were on the Cape.

Tears. There were tears. Eva was very sensitive to the butterflies being released. She had a difficult time with their release. Andrew was very cute hugging her and trying to comfort her. In the end we released seven of them with one that never emerged from the cocoon. Allison pinned that paper to the tree near where we released the butterflies on the off chance that this last one would emerge.