Another Investment in the Future

A newly slim praying mantis pauses in her climb to the top of the pole after building her egg case and laying her eggs. She is stepping over the red wool that I tied around the pole to mark the site of another egg case (ootheca) that I found a couple of weeks ago. I was particularly pleased with this shot because her under parts are lit up by the low sun. Normally they are very difficult to capture.

While I was watching her I noticed yet another new ootheca. This brings the total to 12!

In the extra shot is this mantis still working on her ootheca. The material she uses oozes out her tail end in a thick bubbly goo that hardens in the air. Because she can’t see down there she has two little feeler things that are continually on the move to monitor progress. Note the white “lids” on each egg chamber.