Praying Mantis – Interesting Praying Mantis Information (2018)

Praying Mantis- Interesting Praying Mantis Information

With time, scientists and agriculturalists have discovered many advanced and important ways by which people can combat the growing problem of pests. You must have surely heard about what pests are, right? Yes, every one of us has and many of you readers have also been attacked by them as well. Pests or the harmful insects which attack our property in huge numbers are responsible for damages in the huge amount of money every year. Pests can attack both our houses, buildings and also agricultural fields and crops. Therefore, it becomes very important to combat them using the effective methods that we have. People in such scenarios, contact the pest control agencies near them. These agencies have the right tools and equipment with the help of which they can effectively combat the pest infestation that a person is fed up with. The pest control agencies have developed many new methods and different elements with which they clear a particular area out of pests. So as you can understand that pest control agencies have become very popular among the people.

1. Benefits of Pest Control Agencies

Pest Control Agencies
source:https://lankainformation.lk/directory/health/pest-controls

People contact these pest control agencies for many benefits which they provide their customers with. Are you unaware of such benefits? Then let us have a look at those in the section below.

  • Right tools and Equipment- the pest control agencies have the right tools and equipment which are required to combat the pest problem. They have right elements which have a drastic effect on the pests and reduce their growth significantly and slowly, wiping the whole band of pests. Their workers have the right knowledge to use these right tools and equipment for making sure that their customers are absolutely satisfied with their work and get rid of such a serious issue.
  • Identifying the Right Pest- identifying the right pest which has attacked your property is also very important. It can be really difficult for an ordinary person to identify the kind of pest that has invested in his or her property. Without knowing the kind of pest that has affected a certain area, it will be really difficult to deploy the right measures and methods to eliminate them. Therefore, the pest control agencies can easily distinguish the type of pest that has infested your property using correct methods and with their knowledge.
  • Advanced Methods- if a person chooses to treat a pest infestation by oneself, then the first thing which will come to his mind is by using chemicals and toxins like insecticides. But, pest control has become very sophisticated and much more than the traditional usage of toxins. They now use the very popular and effective biological methods of treating pests or less harmful chemicals. So, if you want to protect your crops or property from the harmful effect of the pests and also the chemicals, then contacting the pest control agencies will be the wisest thing to do.
  • Saves Your Time and Efforts- cleaning a property of a huge amount of pest infestation is no easy job to do. It requires a lot of dedicated time and effort to the cause and even after that, the whole infestation may not be eliminated. Therefore, to save your precious time and physical efforts in such a complicated process is a good thing to do. The agencies have dedicated workers to help you out until your property is absolutely clear of the harmful pests.

So here are the important benefits that a person can acquire by contacting the local pest agencies. With the development of science and agricultural field, it has become much more sophisticated and easier to deploy pest control services and help the people to protect their property from intensive damages. One of the most important aspects of pest control is the rise in the use of Biological way of controlling pests.

2. What is Biological Way of Treating Pests?

Biological Methods
source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIJ3e8MjnQ8

 

Pest control services are really important and with time the agencies have become really advanced. One of the most popular ways that have come up in the recent years is the Biological methods of treating pests. What does it really mean? Well, biological way of treating pests includes the use of beneficial insects and other living organisms which prey upon these harmful pests that have infested a property. It has been termed biological because it is totally under the laws of nature where a predator is going to hunt down its prey but consequently contributing to the decline of their presence in the area. Biological methods include beneficial insects like the ladybug, praying mantis, wasps etc. But among all the insects, there is one which is very popular is available in 2300 different kinds of species. Yes! It is the praying mantis that we are talking about. If you adopt biological methods of treating your property, then the use of praying mantis will surely be important because of several reasons. In this article, we will be discussing more what Praying Mantises are and know more information about the insect.

3. What is The Praying Mantis?

mantis

As we mentioned in the above section, that pest control agencies have started to adopt different biological means of controlling different types of pests. Search interesting prospect of using biological methods of controlling pests, is the use of beneficial insects. Among all the insects which help to combat pests, the Praying Mantis has reputed itself to be the most useful and effective one. Mantises have always been of great help to humans for decades and man also kept these mantises as pets. There are almost 2300 species of different types of mantises which live in different part of the world, in their suitable habitat. The Praying mantis is easily found in the South American Jungles, parts of Africa and many regions of Asia. Mostly it was found in Asia but with passing time people started to import it to other countries and continents which makes it widely available everywhere. The Praying mantis has been named so because of their two front legs which are folded in such a position that it looks they are praying. However, apart from fetching them their names, the legs of the praying mantis are also very beneficial while hunting the pests as well. There are other notable features and characteristics of the praying mantis which you should know. Let us have a look at the other characteristics of the praying mantis.

4. Different Characteristics of Praying Mantis

Breed Praying Mantis

The Praying Mantis is a very interesting insect and has been very helpful for controlling pests. Scientists have been very impressed over the years because not many insects have the kind of senses and characteristics that the praying mantis has. There are several characteristics and other relevant information about them and we are going to discuss all of these in this section about Praying Mantis.

Appearance- the Praying Mantis can be easily identified because of its very popular green colour, present all over the body. The mantis has six legs, two wings and two antennas as well. These are the most important segments of their body. The male praying mantis has a much longer and distinguishable antenna when compared to the females. The female mantises, on the other hand, are much bulkier and broader than the male counterpart. Both the sexes are green in colour but their size varies. A praying mantis can length up to 10-16 cms when they have successfully made the change to a fully developed adult mantis. This makes them one of the largest mantis species in this world. The green colour of the praying mantis helps them to camouflage against predators living organisms which hunt them and even helps them to remain hidden while they are hurting themselves. So it is really easy to identify a praying mantis from the looks and appearance of this insect which are very common.

Important Senses- the praying mantis is a very intelligent and versatile predatory insect. It has a lot of senses working all the time and especially when it is going to hunt. The most common senses they have are same that of the human- smell, taste, feeling, sight and hearing. But, interestingly their sense of sight is absolutely brilliant and much more efficient when compared to other insects or other categories of mantis. The praying mantis has the amazing ability of stereo vision which enables it to judge any distance between the places very effectively. The praying mantis can rotate it’s head 180° for viewing their respective surroundings and it also has 5 eyes which provides exemplary viewing power. It can look at the same spot with the two ice and make accurate distance measurements. The sense of the sight is so accurate and effective that a praying mantis depends a lot on it. However, the other senses are relatively less weak than the eyesight. On the other hand, the senses of smell are also weak compared to other senses. The smelling sense of Praying mantis is only confined to certain emit. The hearing senses are also relatively weak because they have only one ear. That is why it is not very effective but they are one of those only insects which can hear ultrasonic sounds. They can catch the vibrations which are made due to noise and other sounds and identify what it really is. Such senses present in the praying mantis helps them to survive in nature and also helps them to hunt their prey very effectively. The Mantis can successfully implement and use all the senses that they have while hunting or even when they are trying to survive.

Attractions and Preys- the Praying Mantis is a beneficial insect and has hunting instincts which help it to hunt down the preys very effectively. It is very active and tends to physically work a lot while hunting preys. So praying mantises are used widely in cases of controlling pests of different kinds. They have been regarded as one of the best insects which are used for this purpose. A praying mantis is usually hunting upon insects like the caterpillars, different types of moths, beetles, and crickets. It can track them down if they are present in the concerned area and will kill them. Their hunting abilities and senses which we talked about in the previous paragraph, helps them to efficiently kill the pests in large number. They are easily attracted by surroundings which include grasses and shrubs, cosmos, marigolds, dills. They mostly hunt their preys which are present in surroundings composed of this natural fauna. The green colour of the praying mantis also helps them to remain hidden in such an environment which makes them very effective to hunt the preys. A single praying may hunt almost 200 pests every day. The adult praying mantis is also very active during the night because it has the ability to hear ultrasonic sound waves which helps them to identify the pest.

keep mantis as pet

Behaviour- if you have read the article until this point you are well aware now that the praying mantis is a predator insect which makes it suitable for combating pests. It is no surprise that the mantis is ferocious in nature and have amazing hunting capabilities, thanks to their instincts and senses. Unlike some docile species of mantis, the Praying mantis tends to work more and effectively tracks down a pray even for long periods of time. They are ferocious and aggressive in nature. A big problem among the adult mantises is that they are cannibalistic in nature. A praying mantis can attack its counterpart, whether it is a male or female if it feels threatened or is hungry. Therefore, it is very much essential that during mating periods, the Praying mantis is not hungry or else it will attack the other one. The praying mantis attacks prey which are half their sizes or smaller, but sometimes they can also attack some of their size. The mantises before becoming adult, are nymphs which are not cannibalistic in nature. They are also effective in eating pests and kill them. The nymphs develop into an adult after 2-3 weeks and they turn into fully developed adults by 5-6 weeks. The praying mantises are also capable of mating during his time. So the praying mantis is ferocious predators which are most likely to be cannibalistic in nature when they turn into fully developed adults.

Living Conditions- praying mantises like another mantis also have specific environmental conditions and regulations under which they develop the best. The preferable temperature for the praying mantises to survive and work effectively is around 22°C-24°C. During the night the preferable conditions should be around 17°C. However, these mantises can have a hard time surviving when the temperature is too low. A temperature below 8°C is very drastic for the praying mantis to survive. The eggs of the praying mantis also require somewhat similar conditions to thrive. The cage in which you are trying to keep a praying mantis should also be double the size of the praying mantis so that it can move freely. You can also add some twigs or branches for it to perch and hang from. So if you are trying to pet a praying mantis in-house, it becomes very crucial that you control the temperature and other details which we mentioned in this paragraph.

So, these are the essential characteristics of a praying mantis which you should know about. As you can see that why the praying mantis has been such a great way to combat different harmful pests that plague human properties all the time. The hunting skills and abilities that the praying mantis has helps them to effectively prey innumerable pests throughout the day. For decades, praying mantises have been friendly to humans without any reported harm or potential damage caused by them. Therefore, the pest control services have included the praying mantises in their line-up of beneficial insects. Praying Mantises are one of the most productive and important mantis species present in the world.

mantis

Final Verdict

In this article, we have discussed extensively the different characteristics that a praying mantis have. We have also mentioned why pest control services have adapted to use biological methods over the traditional chemical treatment of pest infestation. The praying mantis and their hunting instincts have been successfully implemented and used by humans and especially pest control agencies to fight pests which attack human property. Keep in mind the cannibalistic nature of praying mantises because it can prove to be a big loss if they attack each other. You can easily buy praying mantis eggs or even the adults from insect agents and from different online sites as well at very affordable prices. Make sure that you will be able to control and regulate the temperature and the living conditions of the praying mantis so that they can survive through all their developmental stages. Read our article and know important facts about the praying mantis in details for successful breeding or for the sake of knowledge.

【Read More】

Leave a Comment