affinity photo Hatchlings . . .

[Smee Again 241]

Back in March, I had to "tie up" my car's muffler after one of the mounts broke. I grabbed some bailing wire that one of our autoshop guys had used to hold a door open on windy days. Didn't realize it at the time, but there was a Preying Mantis egg on one end. When I got the new mount and attached it, I was about to dispose of the wire when I realized there was an egg on it. My wife wanted to put it in our garden. I figured it was damaged after all the heat coming off the tail pipe. That was in March 2020.

Today, while I was in a Zoom meeting, she came into my room all excited and showing me pictures of her Preying Mantises that were hatching. As soon as my meeting was over, I grabbed the camera and took a look. Here's a couple of pics I got while she was "making groceries" (Cajun term for "buying foodstuffs").

Appears they are coming out one or two at a time. In second picture you can see some little heads that have broken through the shell but haven't exited yet.