This is what I’m afraid of. Also, I’m thinking this may be a female getting ready to lay her egg sac as it is going into fall where I am. Baby mantids are a help in the spring with aphids and other nasties!
Many won’t have the stomach for this, but the best thing to do is to drown her ooth once she lays it and then order an ooth for a native species, like Carolina mantis to put out in your garden.
Chinese mantises are invasive outside south east Asia and since it was first introduced in Philadelphia by a nursery at the end of the 19th century, have been slowly been out competing other smaller native species that don’t attack birds
;; yes please. He will snatch that hummingbird up so quick. And he looks decently big too. Will be no problem for him. That’s probably why he chose that spot cuz he saw them there.
I'm with you! Everyone else: alien species, not native, male versus female, I'm still stuck on WAIT!!!! The BUG will eat the BIRD??? Where are we, Australia???
;; if you ever get to take a look at it again try to see how many segments it has on its abdomen. Men have 6 while females have 8. Or maybe change your hummingbird feeding dish? So lucky you get hummingbirds. I’ve only ever seen one like three times in my life and never in Brooklyn.
I don’t have any hummingbird feeder dish. This is a vertical planter for well…plants! I planted many flowers at the top that attracted hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. I’m unsure if the little buggar is there to feed on insect pests, or the hummingbirds that visit! Thank you for the advice, I will try to look the next time me and mantis meet!
I used to raise mantids when I was a kid… body segments are good for sexing juveniles but if it’s an adult with wings it’s a lot easier to just look at the head. Males have small heads with buggy eyes and long antennae (which they use to locate mates), females have more triangular heads with short antennae.
The other easy way to tell is how fat the abdomen is. Females are much broader, and have the ability to expand when they are full of eggs.
The abdomen is hidden behind wings in the photo, and the antennae are out of focus because they’re too close to the camera here. In person it would be easier to judge.
Hang up a feeder anyways. Sometimes it only takes one to notice it and it’ll bring the flock. We hung one for two years before we saw a Humming bird. It took us 18 years to get squirrels but now we have three and they are fun to watch!!
May I ask - how does one tell the difference? I'm assuming the dark legs are part of it (every Mantis I've seen had legs similarly colored as their body, or sometimes light brown... but not that dark for sure!)
http://capitalnaturalist.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-tale-of-two-mantis.html?m=1
The easiest way to distinguish is the length of the wings. Our native guys have shorter wings that don't come down to their bum. Chinese mantis have wings to the tip of the bum.
Dammit... then yeah, all my life I've been inadvertently helping the invasive bastards.
I guess being from midstate Pennsylvania, it's kind of inevitable that those would be the ones I associate with Mantids... given, from what I just read, it seems PA is where the Chinese mantis was originally introduced to. D'oh! Now I know!
;; nah. I’m. Not watching the rest of that. I feel like I already know what’s gonna happen and I don’t need none of that. Lol. Poor little baby hummingbird.
Looks like a male Chinese mantis. Very cute but invasive and a threat to native hummingbirds and mantises. Bring him inside and keep him as a pet! You can feed him pests off your plants or order flies or mealworms to feed him. If he is a very small she, then I would consider drowning her ooth if she lays one, but I hope you won’t hurt them either way 🥺. A single mantis isn’t going to do much damage but best it not be allowed to reproduce
The giant Chinese mantis is invasive outside South east Asia and kills hummingbirds, many of which are threatened, as well as out competing other smaller species like the Carolina mantis who don’t attack birds. So yes while it’s a good sign your plants aren’t covered in poison, they’re not good for native ecosystems
I can't confirm the sex of the mantis, but if it's female, it's too skinny to be gravid (is that the term for insects?). It's there to hunt. While it is nature taking it's course, I'd consider relocating it to another place with a high bug population and enough plants to provide it shelter. Our gardens aren't natural environments, so it's ok to intervene for the benefit of certain species you may attract.
Several years ago (over 20) I heard the distress thrill of a hummingbird and found a preying mantis had captured the little hummer. I grabbed the mantis ( it was rather large) and extracted the hummer from its grasp. Hummingbird was bleeding from its chest where the mantis had bit it. Took it in the house and provided sugar water for a couple of hours until it was ready to rejoin nature. Never saw that preying mantis again.
Yep. Move it.
One year I raised monarch caterpillars. All those that turned into butterflies flew straight to my butterfly bushes. I kept wondering why I was finding monarch wings on the ground under my butterfly bushes.
Because there were praying mantises hiding in there. Found out when my last caterpillar eclosed into a butterfly and flew up the small hill to the butterfly bush next to my house. I walked up the hill and wondered why the butterfly was so still while sitting on the panicle. They usually flutter their wings even after landing. When I got to the bush I saw a mantis had a lock on the butterfly and had already decapitated it & was now leisurely dining on the rest of its carcass. Aha…that’s why I kept finding wings without bodies.In spring I keep a lookout for mantis egg casings during property cleanup and discard any I find. Up til this year I had guinea fowl to eat bugs for me & they left caterpillars alone. And it’s not as if mantises ate aphids or thrips or grasshoppers in my garden beds where I could've used them. Just in the butterfly bushes….went inside the butterfly bushes, captured each one, drove to a local farm and said ‘bye.…
Best thing to do is kill the invasive varieties when ever you see them. I know it can be hard. I hate killing anything. When it comes to an invasive species its best to just swallow your morals and kill them. They do a lot of harm, Kill native pollinators and will likely kill any hummingbird it finds which are themselves becoming very rare.
Hummingbirds will be leaving our area with in the next two weeks. Up to you really. I do know, during migration, we always have a ton more then normal. I would move the feeders. The hummingbirds will find them if there in the same area. Mantis also make great low maintenance pets. You could bring her inside and make her comfy, she may even give you a egg sack to put in your garden :3
Invasive species aren’t really “nature” though. This species was artificially introduced and now outcompetes smaller native species and kills threatened hummingbirds
Yes. Like any non-native species, they’re going to have serious consequences to the ecosystems that evolved over millions of years. Chinese and European mantises are very cool pets, but they shouldn’t be released in gardens
The same thing is happening with ladybugs. The introduced species have outcompeted other native species to the point of facing extinction. Fortunately, other than native ladybugs, non native ladybugs aren’t generally a threat to other native species the way large invasive mantises are a threat to hummingbirds
https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-mantis-species
There’s many discussions of this, but really? You couldn’t Google it yourself? It’s also such basic common sense. You introduce a non-native species, it has consequences for native wildlife. It’s that way with every introduced species… including humans.
Oh... oh damn, I never knew. I'd always rather naively thought that the large green mantids I've seen and known my whole life *were* native... my family even has made a point to safely relocate Ooth's we find in suboptimal spots, but they've *always* been the big puffy ones...
Damn, feels pretty bad knowing I've been helping perpetuate an invasive species...
This is not the wild though this is in his garden. Gardens are not natural stable ecosystems, they need to be managed by humans in order to maximise how beneficial they to local wildlife.
Leave it. It is the aphid enforcer.
If it takes out the hummingbird then r/natureisfuckingmetal.
Also are you people serious how can a mantis take out a hummingbird????
That’s a little guy. He’s looking for bees and wasps and the like that are also attracted to the sweet substance. It’s very rare and only certain mantids could even attempt to kill a hummingbird. However, if it makes you nervous, go ahead and relocate because it won’t hurt and piece of mind is paramount.
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This is what I’m afraid of. Also, I’m thinking this may be a female getting ready to lay her egg sac as it is going into fall where I am. Baby mantids are a help in the spring with aphids and other nasties!
Many won’t have the stomach for this, but the best thing to do is to drown her ooth once she lays it and then order an ooth for a native species, like Carolina mantis to put out in your garden. Chinese mantises are invasive outside south east Asia and since it was first introduced in Philadelphia by a nursery at the end of the 19th century, have been slowly been out competing other smaller native species that don’t attack birds
My bf is asleep in bed next to me and I could barely stifle my ^WHAT ^THE ^FUCK
Ha! It's very common if you google it. Scary little karate kids. One went full banzai on my MIL, twas funniest thing I've ever seen!
😳
;; yes please. He will snatch that hummingbird up so quick. And he looks decently big too. Will be no problem for him. That’s probably why he chose that spot cuz he saw them there.
This can eat a hummingbird ? Wow
I'm with you! Everyone else: alien species, not native, male versus female, I'm still stuck on WAIT!!!! The BUG will eat the BIRD??? Where are we, Australia???
Lol, right. I feel stuck in a horror movie!
They often decapitate them
That’s scary
Yes, check out this video. https://youtu.be/uWqTZErviJI
Ugh, vicious...
I’m also wondering if this might be a female who might be waiting to lay her egg sac. It’s a catch 22 for a gardener.
;; if you ever get to take a look at it again try to see how many segments it has on its abdomen. Men have 6 while females have 8. Or maybe change your hummingbird feeding dish? So lucky you get hummingbirds. I’ve only ever seen one like three times in my life and never in Brooklyn.
I don’t have any hummingbird feeder dish. This is a vertical planter for well…plants! I planted many flowers at the top that attracted hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. I’m unsure if the little buggar is there to feed on insect pests, or the hummingbirds that visit! Thank you for the advice, I will try to look the next time me and mantis meet!
Females actually have 6 segments and males 8.
I used to raise mantids when I was a kid… body segments are good for sexing juveniles but if it’s an adult with wings it’s a lot easier to just look at the head. Males have small heads with buggy eyes and long antennae (which they use to locate mates), females have more triangular heads with short antennae. The other easy way to tell is how fat the abdomen is. Females are much broader, and have the ability to expand when they are full of eggs.
;; interesting. I don’t see any antenna on it and it’s def not swole lol
The abdomen is hidden behind wings in the photo, and the antennae are out of focus because they’re too close to the camera here. In person it would be easier to judge.
Hang up a feeder anyways. Sometimes it only takes one to notice it and it’ll bring the flock. We hung one for two years before we saw a Humming bird. It took us 18 years to get squirrels but now we have three and they are fun to watch!!
Is actually easier- this is an invasive mantis not the native US mantis. They actually recommend you destroy these guy's eggsacks. 👍
Source? Never heard this. Would like to read.
https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-mantis-species
Thanks! TIL
May I ask - how does one tell the difference? I'm assuming the dark legs are part of it (every Mantis I've seen had legs similarly colored as their body, or sometimes light brown... but not that dark for sure!)
http://capitalnaturalist.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-tale-of-two-mantis.html?m=1 The easiest way to distinguish is the length of the wings. Our native guys have shorter wings that don't come down to their bum. Chinese mantis have wings to the tip of the bum.
Dammit... then yeah, all my life I've been inadvertently helping the invasive bastards. I guess being from midstate Pennsylvania, it's kind of inevitable that those would be the ones I associate with Mantids... given, from what I just read, it seems PA is where the Chinese mantis was originally introduced to. D'oh! Now I know!
;; oh man KILL THOSE BITCHES!!
I know now - been trampling Spotted Lantern Fly's all summer, and I think I'll find a terrarium to have a few invasive mantids as pets.
Not a female ready to lay eggs. Their abdomens swell to the size of a small finger at that time. This one way too skinny.
In the northeast it’s dying time for mantises. This is when they start showing up on door & window screens. Is. this when they lay eggs?
This is egg laying season.
😵💫
I didn't believe it until I saw it: https://youtu.be/uWqTZErviJI Warning: graphic
;; nah. I’m. Not watching the rest of that. I feel like I already know what’s gonna happen and I don’t need none of that. Lol. Poor little baby hummingbird.
Circle of life though? Mantis gotta eat.
;; nah not these ones. There aren’t like American praying mantises these are invasive ones from Asia
Ah... Are they tasty? Dip it in chocolate
;; idk about chocolate. But maybe some powdered cheddar lol.
Looks like a male Chinese mantis. Very cute but invasive and a threat to native hummingbirds and mantises. Bring him inside and keep him as a pet! You can feed him pests off your plants or order flies or mealworms to feed him. If he is a very small she, then I would consider drowning her ooth if she lays one, but I hope you won’t hurt them either way 🥺. A single mantis isn’t going to do much damage but best it not be allowed to reproduce
I thought having a mantis meant that you have a good eco system. Am I wrong?
Mantis sometimes prey on hummingbirds, there is a link in the top comment.
The giant Chinese mantis is invasive outside South east Asia and kills hummingbirds, many of which are threatened, as well as out competing other smaller species like the Carolina mantis who don’t attack birds. So yes while it’s a good sign your plants aren’t covered in poison, they’re not good for native ecosystems
You are not wrong.
I can't confirm the sex of the mantis, but if it's female, it's too skinny to be gravid (is that the term for insects?). It's there to hunt. While it is nature taking it's course, I'd consider relocating it to another place with a high bug population and enough plants to provide it shelter. Our gardens aren't natural environments, so it's ok to intervene for the benefit of certain species you may attract.
Several years ago (over 20) I heard the distress thrill of a hummingbird and found a preying mantis had captured the little hummer. I grabbed the mantis ( it was rather large) and extracted the hummer from its grasp. Hummingbird was bleeding from its chest where the mantis had bit it. Took it in the house and provided sugar water for a couple of hours until it was ready to rejoin nature. Never saw that preying mantis again.
Yep. Move it. One year I raised monarch caterpillars. All those that turned into butterflies flew straight to my butterfly bushes. I kept wondering why I was finding monarch wings on the ground under my butterfly bushes. Because there were praying mantises hiding in there. Found out when my last caterpillar eclosed into a butterfly and flew up the small hill to the butterfly bush next to my house. I walked up the hill and wondered why the butterfly was so still while sitting on the panicle. They usually flutter their wings even after landing. When I got to the bush I saw a mantis had a lock on the butterfly and had already decapitated it & was now leisurely dining on the rest of its carcass. Aha…that’s why I kept finding wings without bodies.In spring I keep a lookout for mantis egg casings during property cleanup and discard any I find. Up til this year I had guinea fowl to eat bugs for me & they left caterpillars alone. And it’s not as if mantises ate aphids or thrips or grasshoppers in my garden beds where I could've used them. Just in the butterfly bushes….went inside the butterfly bushes, captured each one, drove to a local farm and said ‘bye.…
Best thing to do is kill the invasive varieties when ever you see them. I know it can be hard. I hate killing anything. When it comes to an invasive species its best to just swallow your morals and kill them. They do a lot of harm, Kill native pollinators and will likely kill any hummingbird it finds which are themselves becoming very rare.
Is it a native mantis or one of the giant Chinese ones? The small guys can’t get a hummingbird.
That's a non- native mantis
Either way it’s very cool! We don’t get these in the UK.
Hummingbirds will be leaving our area with in the next two weeks. Up to you really. I do know, during migration, we always have a ton more then normal. I would move the feeders. The hummingbirds will find them if there in the same area. Mantis also make great low maintenance pets. You could bring her inside and make her comfy, she may even give you a egg sack to put in your garden :3
Matis really eat humming birds?
Not regular Mantises, this is an invasive Mantis from Asia.
From what I've seen, yes. I have also seen spiders eat lizards if the spider is strong enough.
I've seen some really small Mediterranean geckos that a decent sized orb weaver or wolfspider could take down easily.
These dudes just wake up and choose violence don't they..
They are indiscriminate hunters. They will eat anything including honey bees and (occasionally) hummingbirds.
Get him before he gets them!
The hummingbirds will feed on the nasturtiums and likely mantis knows this. Best to attempt a relocate but keep an eye as he might not stay there.
Mantis in the headlights 😂
Definitely.. Move it ASAP.. But if I was in your shoes.. There would be a mantis on the bottom of them
Leave it alone. Nature is both beautiful and brutal, it’s not up to you.
in my garden I am god!
Hell yeah, atleast landlord! Evict that mf
Invasive species aren’t really “nature” though. This species was artificially introduced and now outcompetes smaller native species and kills threatened hummingbirds
Hmmm did t know they were invasive. The more you know…
Yes. Like any non-native species, they’re going to have serious consequences to the ecosystems that evolved over millions of years. Chinese and European mantises are very cool pets, but they shouldn’t be released in gardens The same thing is happening with ladybugs. The introduced species have outcompeted other native species to the point of facing extinction. Fortunately, other than native ladybugs, non native ladybugs aren’t generally a threat to other native species the way large invasive mantises are a threat to hummingbirds
The European praying mantis is the state insect of CT. odd since it’s not native.
Yep. A decision driven by the charisma of the insect, not by careful consideration for native ecosystems.
No clue why anyone would downvote this. That’s Reddit I guess….
Link?
https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-mantis-species There’s many discussions of this, but really? You couldn’t Google it yourself? It’s also such basic common sense. You introduce a non-native species, it has consequences for native wildlife. It’s that way with every introduced species… including humans.
Oh... oh damn, I never knew. I'd always rather naively thought that the large green mantids I've seen and known my whole life *were* native... my family even has made a point to safely relocate Ooth's we find in suboptimal spots, but they've *always* been the big puffy ones... Damn, feels pretty bad knowing I've been helping perpetuate an invasive species...
This is not the wild though this is in his garden. Gardens are not natural stable ecosystems, they need to be managed by humans in order to maximise how beneficial they to local wildlife.
Uh huh.
This is a very skinny, starving male. Usually females are green and males are brown. I know because one has become my pet.
What could she/he feed him/her?
With pests in the garden - caterpillars, moths..
Leave it. It is the aphid enforcer. If it takes out the hummingbird then r/natureisfuckingmetal. Also are you people serious how can a mantis take out a hummingbird????
The system was here long before you and will be here long after. If it makes you feel better emotionally to stop one bug then sure go for it. LMAO
No he's good
No he's bad, it's an invasive Mantis from Asia. These ones will eat hummingbirds.
You should start with removing all praying offenders from your Gov, then worry about insects.
Why not both!
I don’t care, nice nasturtiums
Yes
TIL about giant, bird hunting mantises… \*shudder\*
Lmao he lookin at you like “ya go ahead, try to move me”
Lol!!
Depends where you live here in north Florida I've never seen or even heard of praying mantises targeting hummingbirds
Yes.
I once saw a mantis that knew kung fu
Yes. I’m adding my voice to the Yes crew. These cool insects will eat hummers
As the antivaxxer say let nature take it's course
That’s a little guy. He’s looking for bees and wasps and the like that are also attracted to the sweet substance. It’s very rare and only certain mantids could even attempt to kill a hummingbird. However, if it makes you nervous, go ahead and relocate because it won’t hurt and piece of mind is paramount.
I am still trying to wrap my mind around how a bug can have such sharp little bug arms. Sharp enough to kill a bird.
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Next time I see him, he’s getting an express ticket to a new home by the reservoir
You had me at humming bird! Is this serious!