Every year: surprise!
>> Tuesday, January 17, 2017 –
mantis,
overwintering
I've been lazy with bringing plants indoors this year. Yes, I got them into the garage when necessary, but sorting them into the "stay in the garage" and "move into basement" lots was only about 50% complete until yesterday.
That's when I moved a bunch of small potted succulents into the warmth and under some lights. And that's when I got the surprise. Notice anything special about the elephant bush in this photo? (Other than the fact that it's dropped a lot of leaves I mean.)
Well, look more closely and you'll see...
... a mantis egg case!
Good thing I noticed that, or I'd have a months-early hatching in the basement.
So I pulled the case off:
It was stuck quite well but as usual came off cleanly, albeit suddenly.
The case will go into the jar in the back of the refrigerator for a few more months.
I'm sure I could find more of these out in the garden if I just looked around a bit. Now that I've got my first in the jar, I probably will.
.
I'm glad it was a POSITIVE surprise. It looks a lot worse than it is.
Nice surprise!
What a nice surprise. Good thing you caught it before you had babies hopping all over your basement.
Good thing you know what you are looking at. I would have missed it completely. There will be a big celebratory post when the babies hatch... you will remember to take it out of the fridge in a few months, right?
That's amazing! You have a great set of eyes, Alan. I too would have missed it.