Mantis Hatchery

It's bedtime and Robert comes out of his room looking a little nervous.

"Mom, there are two weird yellow bugs on my closet shelf that are kinda scaring me. They look like baby praying mantises."

"What?!"

He was totally right. Baby praying mantises. Not just two of them. I found nine.

Five months ago, he found a cool looking something on a stick and brought it in the house. It looked a little like this:

Except the top was sealed, not broken open and ruffled like above. See where we're going with this? He had brought home an unhatched praying mantis egg case and thrown it on his shelf and completely forgotten about it. Now he had a nursery of itsy bitsy carnivorous insects next to his paper airplane collection.

Alice was terrified to sleep with them roaming free in her room.

Robert was freaking out at the idea of any of them getting hurt.

James, thankfully, had passed out on the couch just 30 minutes before. I can't even imagine what he would try to do with these guys on the loose.

Matthew was oblivious.

The kids brought me a jar and a paintbrush. I carefully collected the baby bugs and put a lid on top with air holes. It's hard to know what to do with them now...it's still the middle of winter. No mantis food around for months. Will they survive outside, even if sheltered? Will they survive inside, at all?

I have no idea what to feed them, but I figure water is probably important, so I put a tiny drop in the bottom of the jar. We'll see how many of them survive (or escape in) the night. Sheesh. Then we can think about the best place for them longer-term.