Oh Rhizo, you're right. I'm cringing. OMG, a non-fiction horror story! I'd have moved every last bit of furniture, with either dh's big shoe/broom handle inserted since I don't dare near any spider, let alone a black widow, or a fly swater used to swat ants! Donned in thick gloves and winter boots!! Honest to God, I got goose bumps reading yesterday's event at your house. Will you or Robert sit on the couch? Do you find webs? Ohhh, I hope she didn't have babies..look for her dh's skeleton. Might lead to her whereabouts. UUULLLKKK. Several deep breaths..... Your Mantis is a little monster. Poor hummers. Can Robert catch and trasfer to a different location? A wooded area? I can't believe he/she bit you. And broke your skin. Do you know if they have teeth? Darn sharks! No matter, I'd rather be bit by a mantis than see a BW. Auron. After I ordered PM egg cases, then posted here on GW, I then discovered mantis weren't as innocent as they look. When mantis stand they pose as in prayer. After hearing Rhizo's story I know what they're praying for. lol. At first I thought mantis ate grass, weeds, etc, then found they ate bugs, but didn't think it possible they'd eat a bird..even a little hummer. We rarely see hummers here, so I pray, if by some miracle the mantis live and grow full length, the hummers stay away. I realize it's a matter of survival. I can't watch nature shows when one animal devours another, even though it's natural. I assumed mantis ate ants..a pest I've been trying to rid 4-5 yrs. Ants are everywhere, including our house. As much as I dislike finding hundreds of ants, I'd rather deal w/ants than Rhizo's black widow. lol. Purple, thank you. You're so funny, 'in a good way.' :) Yes, the brown things are mantis. Babies. Mantis type wasn't on the receipt so I wrote the seller. He said they're Chinese Mantis. Oh Rhizo, you're right about exotic mantis. There's one type that resembes a semi-white/semi-transparent, double-petaled flower. He/she is BEAUTIFUL. I'm certain they're not hardy in IL though.

There is an important distinction that needs to be made here. OrTHENE and OrthoNEX are NOT the same pesticide. They are the same to the extent that both employ the active ingredient ACEPHATE. But OrthoNEX is a mixture of Acephate with the fungicide that is sold as FUNGINEX. The warning on the Funginex bottle warns against getting even the smallest amount of this product in your eyes...it can cause blindness. You should not inhale this product either. Orthonex is the product that used to be (and probably still is) sold as ROSEPRIDE, and is used to prevent blackspot in roses. These chemicals are not "nothing". They have an impact on the environment every time you use them, whether you see it or not. If you are using Orthinex and you don;t really need to be preventing fungal disease, you are using a doubly environmentally unfriendly gaent unnecessarily. I stopped using all forms of chemical pesticide and herbicide (like Round Up) when I began to notice physical abnormalities in the local population of native green treefrogs on my property. I live on 5 acres of land and have pretty extensive ornamental plantings, as well as a population of frogs that probably numbers in the tens of thousands (our property backs up to a Nature Preserve and a natural wetland). We noted that the new generations of baby treefrogs were hatching out on our property with deformities, mainly missing eyes and deformed heads, and some with missing limbs, when we were using Cygon 2E to control black pepper scale on bromeliads and Orthene to control magnolia scale on palms. The treefrogs were using our bromeliads as incubators for their eggs and tadpoles. We stopped using it and within 2 generations we stopped seeing these genetic abnormalities in our frogs. This was a very scary wakeup call to me, especially as we have a well for our water. THINK before you spray.

I was raised in New Mexico, and I sell the seeds, and now grow Hatch strains at my Southern California home. The strain of seed is completely different. "Hatch chile is, like almost all green chile in the state, a catchall term for a number of varieties of pepper developed and standardized by New Mexico State University. These include Big Jim, Sandia and Joe E. Parker peppers, which should be familiar to anyone who has ever stood in a roasting line." That said, these are not Anaheim strain. All these varieties owe their existence to one Dr. Fabian Garcia. He worked in the early part of last century to standardize the disparate kinds of heirloom New Mexican chiles into a form with consistent shape and predictable heat. His hybridized pepper invention, the New Mexico No. 9, was such a success that it grew to dominate the state’s culinary landscape and eventually formed the basis for most of the varieties of chile sold today. Where you grow it really only effects the size and how prolific.

Whatever annual/deciduous weeds grow out in unmowed fields - I can't name any in particular mainly because they're dead during the winter ;) But I usually find them in the dead bushes and weeds that grew about 3-4 feet high and the egg cases are usually anywhere from 1-2 feet above the ground attached to a stem. Sometimes I find them higher up on twigs of young trees as well. They seem to like the open areas, I don't think I have found any in the woods. Just go out into an overgrown field (and hope it's not overgrown with brambles) and start looking.