Insect Lore Live Praying Mantis Gift Set

Ours hatched just as we hoped and had many mantids. We kept 3 and have been feeding and observing them for weeks. I do wish you had the option to purchase wingless fruit flies to continue to feed them, but we have been successful so far collecting aphids and now small caterpillars.I suppose they don’t intent for you to really keep your mantids for an extended period of time, but they are quite interesting and fun to watch. More info about their care would have been appreciated. Still I think these are more entertaining than butterflies.

I was very disappointed when this showed up and said it might take as long as 12 weeks to hatch, but I was positive and started to like the idea of cultivating these little guys. But after 5 months of waiting for results, spraying the enclosure regularly as instructed yet I have no results. I'm pretty frustrated, $25 and 5 months of tending down the drain. I wish i could request a refund since this is some expensive garbage since it did nothing and i have no b other use for this stuff. I would suggest another source for praying manti. Just find a local source it's cheaper too!

UPDATE! O M Goodness! Our egg hatched this morning! We’ve had it for 10 days and there were a LOT of babies! My kids and I had a great time watching them and letting them go!We have a 3 and 4 year old who this was perfect for! It was such an easy set up for them! They are now anxiously awaiting them to hatch!! Great summer activity!

The kit was complete and classroom ready. Unpredictable timing. Not what the instructions claimed and the mantis were born way quicker than we were ready to feed or release them.

We have done both the Praying Mantis and the Butterfly. Although both are very cool, if you have the option for one I suggest the butterfly.

I may have enjoyed these little guys more than my kids who originally wanted them. The mantises hatched 4 weeks from the day we received it. Amazing how tiny they were, all spilling out of the egg case. My 4 year old and 2 year old learned so much and were thrilled to be a part of releasing them into our garden. We did keep a few and are finding appropriate bugs to feed to them.

Bought this kit for my 4 year old who has a fascination with Praying Mantis’. The kit came on time and easy to assemble. The PM hatched about 3 weeks after kit arrived. There are like 50-70 PM. It’s great overall and my son loves it. Cons are that while waiting for PM to hatch you have to lift the sac up off this plastic leaf and spray the leaf with water for moisture. Well the pop up tent only opens half way on the top so you can’t get both hands inside to lift and spray at same time. You almost have to take the sac out completely to get your other hand in to spray the leaves. Not a big deal but kinda annoying. 2nd you are suppose to feed them wingless fruit flies. Seems fine since they can’t fly and will be contained in the tent, but they can easily squeeze through the mesh and climb outside of the tent and get in the house. So we tried to not over feed them so the PM will eat them up immediately. Overall cool summer experimentEdit: now we are 3 weeks in and finding it’s hard to keep the fruit flies in the mesh tent as they easily can fit through the holes. Have to leave the tent outside most days as I don’t want my house full of fruit flies. Feel like the PM aren’t catching enough to eat and have begun to eat each other. Survival of the fittest I guess. Have changed my rating due to the fruit fly issue

Our dead mantis egg casing is still sitting in its habitat on our counter almost 4 months after ordering. I think it's time to say goodbye. We followed the directions as closely as possible throughout the summer but now cooler weather is coming and I really don't think it's going to hatch. We've done an Insect Lore kit (butterfly) for the last three years and my son really enjoyed watching them grow and setting them free. He was SUPER excited for the mantis kit, but now he's fairly disappointed.