OOh, most cool thing, Aggie! I buy the ootheca (egg sac), place it in one of my big bug containers, and just wait! I do this at school with my Kindergartners and it is an awesome thing. Teaches them a lot about PATIENCE because it takes forever for the little nymphs to hatch but when they do...woo-hoo! Around 150+ come out of one ootheca and it is an awesome sight to behold, for sure. So, 'raise them' isn't quite the correct term, I should use here. ;P I give each child several to take home and place in their gardens. I've had kids come back to give me reports of how large their Praying Mantids have grown (or if theirs has died), and whether they've observed them catch and eat any bugs. I've also taught them WHERE to place the insectivores so as not to have them eat any butterflies! We discuss the eating habits as well as 'preying' habits as well. It is a fun lesson for the kids and as you know, kids LOVE bugs anyway. My thinking and reason is this: I feel it is important to teach a LOT of science to children and science has really been taken out of the schools nowadays (at least in California). Gardening is an enjoyable and relaxing hobby as well as way to have your home look nice. Integrating some knowledge about insects and gardening into the school curriculum together with lifecycles (I also teach about plant lifecycles) gets the children to go home and start thinking about their OWN HOMES as well as the community and making the community a nicer place to live for the people and 'wildlife.' Knowledge about insects helps to make them aware of what is a 'good' vs. 'bad' bug (biters vs. non-biters, poisonous vs. non-poisonous, beneficial...) and at the same time, we end up with, hopefully, LESS pesticides being used in the communities and more of the beneficial insects (placed in the areas where there aren't any butterflies, of course!). I always bring home all the extra Praying Mantids for my front yard. :)

As shocking and sad that a mantis can actually catch a hummer (which amazed me), I expect it is an EXTRAORDINARILY rare event. In my 25 years of organic gardening (encouraging mantises among other beneficial insects), I have never seen a mantis with anything larger than a grasshopper or moth. And in untold numbers of weeding events, I have never found a hummingbird carcass on the ground among the flowers. Mantids aren't perfectly beneficial; they will catch a few "good" insects, too. But they shouldn't be considered any real threat to hummers either. Heck, I kept one as a "pet" for a couple of months once (put it on a thread leash and fed it moths). They are relatively safe to handle. You can just grab them gently from behind (like pinching a pencil in the middle) and they can't reach you. Or just put a long stick in front of them and they will generally get on it (they are afraid of you). Or push them into a slippery bowl and dump them on any plant away from the hummer feeders; they do not usually travel far. I'm a hummer-lover, but I am also mantis-friendly...

Hope spidy is ok. we have a resident black and yellow too ! I looked it up to make sure it wasn't poisonous or anything. What a beautiful spider. Mine has a body approx 1 inch long. I read they can get to be 5 inches down south WOW! Kathy

Thanks for link, Covingtoncat! I enjoyed seeing her home, and although at first she seemed just a little too silly, she was fun! I enjoyed her tour and loved her skybrary, too. I was just a little horrified at seeing the wood in the basement - yikes - and wondered how far from the dining room the kitchen is - I didn't go back to the beginning of the video to check but suspect one must go through the sitting room off the kitchen to get to the DR, I assume the same sitting room that is off the DR...too much of a distance, for me. But the house was charming, and I, too, may file away ideas to use someday with those fanning-out cobble-stone lined garden beds with the path bisecting each piece....She seems like the type of person who takes on a challenge, and when it's done, wants to tackle another. I hope she gets as much satisfaction from her next home/project!