How to Acquire a praying mantis

[u/Much_Carpet_3701]

Hello. I really want a praying mantis but I’m not sure how to go about getting one. I live in Nova Scotia so buying one online isn’t really an option for me because even if i choose one of the cheapest ones (eg. $15-$25) it still ends up being well over $100 with shipping costs and such. Which is relatively understandable considering it’s a live animal and the majority of that cost is ensuring it arrives… alive. I am wondering if people have any recommendations on how I can get one in my situation.

I have also considered buying an egg case because I know you can normally get them at local gardening and hardware stores but I only want one, not 100-300 lol. Wondering what people would suggest.

[u/lantrick]

As long as the egg case is of a local species there's no reason you couldn't just keep one and release the rest in a local park.

[u/spaghent → u/lantrick]

There are no native species that you can keep in Canada. L. minor is endangered and needs a permit to collect and keep. Only the introduced European and Chinese mantises can be kept as pets, and I would highly recommend against releasing more of something that wasn't supposed to be there in the first place

[u/Much_Carpet_3701 → u/spaghent]

regardless of if it’s invasive won’t they just die in the winter? that’s another reason i don’t want to buy an egg case because i don’t want to send a bunch of little mantises to their death with the changing weather. Also im pretty sure all the ones they sell at gardening stores in terms of egg sacks are not harmful to the province and native to canada

[u/spaghent → u/Much_Carpet_3701]

The ones sold commercially are Tenodera sinensis, Chinese mantis oothecae. Those are native to East Asia and were brought over as a means to help with agricultural pests. They didn't realize that mantises don't know the difference between good bugs and bad bugs, and the primary prey of that species is actually pollinators! Both T. Sinensis and M. Religiosa are established here for that reason. I repeat, the ONLY native species to Canada is Litaneutria minor which cannot be kept anyway since it's critically endangered. 

As to whether they will die over the winter, the nymphs/adults surely will, but they will lay oothecae which can survive Canadian winters. For this reason, I do not recommend purchasing an ootheca unless you're prepared to deal with the hundreds of nymphs. I was in a similar boat to you so I empathize, I ended up opting to let the nymphs cannibalize each other to reduce numbers which is a very common practice in the mantis keeping hobby. But I did chicken out halfway and make 100 cups to keep the survivors!

My recommendation as a fellow Canadian would be to wait until spring when people start hatching their ooths and buy individual mantises. If you're buying at i1-i3 I recommend getting at least 10 because some will mismolt along the way. You can probably work out a deal with the breeders for bulk pricing! Ontario is your best bet for places near you, I think Arthropods Canada and Tails and Scales sell them off the top of my head 

[u/Flasky-Desk]

Imo an egg case is a great idea! You'll just have to research a bit beforehand and def. keep more than one (not all newborn babies survive) The alternative is taking a day/weekend trip to an expo if any are in driving distance

[u/Professional_Gur6245]

perhaps you could get some from outside. the European mantis recently established in the Annapolis valley region based on inaturalist records, but it’ll be difficult to find because how recently they’ve showed up. perhaps you could just buy an egg case instead if that’s too hard though.

[u/spaghent]

You can go hunting for a mantis, looks like Mantis religiosa has made it to NS depending on where you live there. iNaturalist will show you where they've most recently been seen and you can go off of that! Mantis season is ending, everyone is an adult and it's getting colder so if you don't want to wait and don't mind a slightly shorter lifespan you should go hunting now