Failed Hatching

This praying mantis egg case (ootheca) was laid by the same female that laid the one blipped two weeks ago. Her abdomen was really huge and she packed the cells more tightly than usual. I took charge of them when the leaves they were on died off late autumn. I was surprised they both produced so many tiny nymphs.

I was out most of the day and when I came home found that I’d missed the hatching in the greenhouse. Only these three were left and they were trapped by parts of the egg case. The nymph at the top had a leg trapped in its cell. Below it another has all of its legs trapped. At the bottom the nymph has the “lid” of its cell stuck to a foot. Sadly, the middle one didn’t make it, but I was able to help the other two and they went off into the world of the greenhouse grapevine. There were several others standing about.

I went to Christchurch to have my cognitive and sight tests in preparation for applying for a renewed driving licence. (Required every two years for people over 80). I passed both. Good thing the examiner didn’t follow me to the next place, the garden shop, where I asked a young male staff member where I could find the green plastic…  er … hats. Without blinking an eye he said, “Pots?”